Kings searching for defense, end game poise

KJ McDaniels shoots over Justin Brownlee. PBA IMAGES

Until Friday night, Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone was hoping to find a way inside the top four of the PBA Governors’ Cup standings.

A 115-103 loss to NLEX, in a tournament where just one game can trigger wild swings of fortune, may just have undid that goal.

“We lost our chances to get to the Top 4 [on Friday night]; now we just … see if we could get to the Top 8,” Cone said.

Bad defense. Poor closeouts. There are several reasons to pin the blame on. But one thing is clear: The Gin Kings were vying to cloak themselves in twice-to-beat protection for the first round of the playoffs and wound up needing to surface an old, familiar trait going into their final classification round match on Sunday.

“We’ll just have to live up to our ‘never-say-die’ spirit so that we could secure a spot in the quarterfinals,” said Scottie Thompson, the do-it-all guard who delivered 14 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists in the loss.

Four teams won’t make the playoffs of the season-ending tournament and so far, only three have been officially knocked off the running. The Kings need a victory against eliminated Rain or Shine to avoid being that fourth squad.

‘Doable’

“[The game against Rain or Shine] is the right time to show [the never-say-die spirit]. I know it’s going to be hard, but it’s doable,” Thompson said.

They also need a few tangible basketball things, the ones that did not show up against the Road Warriors at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“I’m really quite discouraged with the way we played,” Cone said after emerging from the team’s dugout almost an hour after the game ended.

“I really don’t usually use that word, but I really feel discouraged with the way we’re playing,” he added.

According to Cone, the Gin Kings’ performance on defense made the defending champions a terrible sight to behold.

“Defensively, we’ve been bad the whole conference. It shows up in our metrics that we’re bad, and it showed up again tonight in the second half,” he said. “That’s two conferences in a row and that’s too many. For the kind of a team we have, for the kind of organization we have, that’s unacceptable.”

And then there’s that little thing about how Ginebra plays in the fourth period—a handicap that has showed up even during wins.

“We collapsed in the fourth. Our problem now is really about the way we close out our games,” Thompson said.

“Against Blackwater, though we won, we collapsed in the fourth. Versus Terrafirma, we were better, but only slightly,” he added.

Beset by injuries

It’s also alarming that out of five wins this conference, two have come against teams that have already been tossed out of the running for playoff slots and only one is above .500. In fact, the aggregate win-loss card of the teams the Kings have beaten is 17-31. Most notably, among the teams currently sitting in the top four, Ginebra has only beaten one of them.

Beset by injuries, the Kings, led by ever-reliable and tested import Justin Brownlee, are struggling to unleash their true potential this conference. Cone also said that Ginebra has not been able to milk the most out of his twin towers, Christian Standhardinger and Japeth Aguilar.

“We haven’t been able to get Christian and Japeth to play well together. And [Friday night] was an example of that, especially in the fourth quarter,” he added.

Ginebra can still finish the classification phase with a 6-5 record with a win against Rain or Shine. But already, two spots in the top four have been claimed. And four other teams are within reach of a seven-win card. If two of those four squads get to seven wins, then it’s down to the bottom four for Ginebra.