BARANGAY Ginebra eyes solo leadership as it goes for its third straight victory in the 2018 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup.
The Gin Kings (2-0) want to keep the ball rolling as they get tangled with Blackwater (1-1) at 7 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City today.
In the other game, Rain or Shine (1-1) and GlobalPort (0-2) battle each other at 4:30 p.m.
Ginebra is currently tied with San Miguel Beer at No. 1 and another victory will give it sole possession of the top spot.
The last time out, the Gin Kings first had a difficult time before they picked it up late to take a 104-97 come-from-behind win over the Batang Pier last Sunday.
Though his team remained unbeaten, Ginebra coach Tim Cone wasn’t too pleased with his wards’ performance the last time out.
He hopes that his squad can regain its tenacity.
“It was actually disturbing. The guys only played and turned it on when they needed to in our last game,” said Cone. “We need to get rid of this bad habit and get back to playing at a high level consistently. I’m not happy. I’m okay with the win, but I’m not happy about the way we played. We need to be better if we’re going to make some noise in the All-Filipino.”
The Kings had to squeeze the best from their Twin Towers Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar, whose monsters numbers offset their slow start. Slaughter scored 18 points, hauled 9 boards and rejected 5 shots, while Aguilar had 21 points, 9 rebounds, 6 blocks and 4 assists
The Kings also had a nice boost from LA Tenorio, who poured in 17 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals, while Scottie Thompson had a near triple-double of 9 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists.
Sean Anthony led Globalport with 29 points and 9 rebounds. He was ably backed by by Stanley Pringle, who had 23 points and 10 rebounds, but GlobalPort still fell short, visibly still feeling the effects of star Terrence Romeo’s absence.
Romeo has yet to fully recover from his knee contusion injury and a February return is possible.
Just like Ginebra, the Elite likewise picked up a win in its last assignment.
Blackwater dispatched the Elasto Painters, 92-87, last Dec. 29 and it hopes it can carry over its luck to 2018.
Both coming of losses, the Elasto Painters and the Batang Pier are desperate to list wins when they go head to head.