Beermen look to keep Kings grounded

Rain or Shine Elastopainters’ Felix Lemetti in a PBA Governors’ Cup out of town game against Ginebra. –PBA IMAGES

San Miguel hopes to extend its hot start in the PBA Governors’ Cup on Tuesday night when it battles a Barangay Ginebra side trying to swiftly move on from an embarrassing performance on the road.

The Beermen, who pace Group B play, shoot for a third-straight victory in the 7:30 p.m. duel against their fancied sister team at Smart Araneta Coliseum, optimistic but cautious of their play following a forgettable first half in the 128-108 rout of Blackwater last Sunday.

“We can’t do how we played in the first half, [if we do,] definitely Ginebra will blow us out,” coach Jorge Gallent said, referring to a laughable first two quarters that saw his charges trail an import-less Blackwater, 63-56.

Ginebra, on the other hand, is hell-bent on rebounding from a 73-64 loss to Rain or Shine in Candon, Ilocos Sur, last Saturday that made for a woeful start for the retooled crowd darlings, whom everyone expected to make a rousing start with the returning Justin Brownlee and their offseason acquisitions.

Underwhelming

Rhon Jhay Abarrientos, the highly touted third overall pick in the Rookie Draft, finished with just two points on a 1-for-15 shooting. Not helping was Isaac Go’s equally horrendous two points off 14 attempts. Both were part of an offseason deal that sent Christian Standhardinger, Stanley Pringle, and a Draft Day pick swap to Terrafirma.

Also eyeing a 3-0 start is TNT, the defending champion which currently leads Group A.

But when presented with the idea that they have begun putting together a streak, coach Chot Reyes sounded just as vigilant as Gallent.

“Well, we’d like to think that, but we won’t have the luxury because coming up next is Converge and you saw how good their import is,” he said, referring to the FiberXers’ Scotty Hopson.

The pair of telco clubs face off at 5 p.m., and Reyes is drawing hope from the fact that, unlike Ginebra, his new guys are coming through for the squad.

“The good thing is our younger players are stepping up, the newer players are stepping up. Rey [Nambatac], CJ [Oftana] and even to a larger extent our new old guys Ping Exciminiano and Poy [Erram], since he was not with us last year,” he said. INQ