Ginebra coach Tim Cone. PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—Barangay Ginebra may have fallen into a false sense of security when it entered Game 2 against a depleted TNT team that didn’t have star forward Bobby Ray Parks Jr. due to a calf injury.
What the Gin Kings faced, however, were the relentless Tropang Giga that nearly took the game as early as the third quarter.
“Maybe the absence of Bobby Ray kinda let us down emotionally a little bit. It’s always hard. In the back of your mind, they thought Bobby Ray is not there, we’re going to have an easier time,” said Cone after his Gin Kings escaped with the 92-90 win to take a 2-0 series lead Wednesday at Angeles University Foundation.
“You got Jayson [Castro] there, you knew [RR] Pogoy was gonna go off and he did, you got Troy [Rosario], you got a lot of players over there, also [Simon] Enciso.”
TNT had control of the game in the third taking a 54-39 lead early in the period but the Gin Kings rallied to get to within two, 70-68, heading into the fourth.
It took a clutch triple from Scottie Thompson and timely free throws from LA Tenorio to ice the game and the all-important series lead.
Cone, though, observed the Tropang Giga played harder and with more “vigor” to make up for the absence of Parks.
“They were playing with so much vigor. They’re vigorous in everything they were doing in defense and offense, they were really making up for Bobby Ray Parks’ absence with effort on both on offense and defense,” said Cone.
TNT did beat Ginebra in the hustle stats including points off turnovers, 22-18, second-chance points, 13-3, fast break points, 14-7, and offensive rebounds, 11-6.
What the Gin Kings did better, however, was get to the foul line and sink their free throws.
Ginebra went 28-of-38 from the line as opposed to TNT’s mark of 17-of-26.
“For us to think it was gonna be easier without Bobby Ray was really wrong of thinking on our part and that’s something we have to correct,” said Cone.