Victolero praises Ginebra’s defense in Magnolia loss

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net

BOCAUE — Defense wins championships.

Unfortunately for Magnolia, it’s the same title-tested Ginebra defense which doomed the Hotshots in their Christmas Clasico clash at Philippine Arena on Monday.

“I give credit to Ginebra because they played a very good defense, especially when they gave us low percentage shots,” said Magnolia coach Chito Victolero of his team’s struggles against the reigning 2017 PBA Governors’ Cup champions.

Ginebra didn’t look like it missed a beat from its championship run, limiting Magnolia to 36 percent shooting from the field and a paltry 18 percent clip from threes.

“We had tough shots and they weren’t going in. We can’t convert,” lamented Victolero in his team’s second outing this 2018 PBA Philippine Cup.

In contrast, the Gin Kings had their way as they shot 44 percent from the field, with the tandem of Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar making a living down low as they scored 32 of the team’s 46 points in the paint.

“We allowed them to shoot 56 percent from two-points, and most of those were in the paint with Slaughter and Japeth. We had a hard time defending those two big guys and that’s the story of the game,” he said.

Despite the defeat, Victolero could still draw positives from this game, especially with Ian Sangalang notching a career-best 25 points on top of 11 rebounds in the loss.

“Ian has always been consistent for us since the last conference. I think he can still improve on a lot because he’s just 26 years old,” he said.

Victolero sees the long break as a chance for the Hotshots to go back to basics and allow the injured players to heal up as they still await the full recovery of Paul Lee and Marc Pingris, as well as the return of Jio Jalalon and Rafi Reavis to their lineup.

“At least, we have a long break to improve on the aspects of our game that we need to improve on. One loss won’t break our conference and I told them that these things happen,” he said.

“Luckily for us, we have the time to wait for the other guys to be 100 percent. We’ll wait for Ping, Rafi, and Jio, and also with Paul because I want to see this team as a complete unit and what we can do with a complete lineup. Hopefully, by January they’ll be with us and let’s see how far we can go.”

Magnolia’s next game is slated on January 10 against Kia.