BARANGAY Ginebra coach Tim Cone liked his wards’ fightback in Game 3 of the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup semifinal series, where the Kings pulled off a 100-90 stomping of the San Miguel Beermen on Sunday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“We didn’t play a good game last time out (Game 2). We had to tip our cap to San Miguel because you know they were stinging from the from the Game 1 loss and and they knew that June Mar (Fajardo) was going to be playing limited minutes. So their guys came out and played with tremendous energy,” said Cone.
The Gin Kings drew big baskets from RJ Abarrientos and Jamie Malonzo in second half as Ginebra moved ahead of the Beermen in their series at 2-1.
Abarrientos struck with a near triple-double of 24 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. He had 18 points for the Gin Kings in the last period to lead Ginebra in finishing with a 10-point lead.
Malonzo knocked in eight of 20 points in the third quarter for the Gin Kings, who went ahead by as much as 16 points in the last half.
“But I I’m just real proud of the guys for steadying themselves and we figured a couple things out (in Game 3). I thought we played with a really good tempo and then RJ just played tremendous down the stretch to keep them at bay,” added Cone.
Meanwhile, the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters are gaining confidence after they drew 18 points from Anton Asistio as they coasted to a 107-86 swamping of an undermanned TNT Tropang 5G in their semifinals matchup.
Taking advantage of the absence of injured Roger Pogoy, ROS moved closer to equalizing their best-of-seven match-up with the series record now at 2-1, with TNT still leading.
The two teams will square off again Wednesday in Game 4 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, with TNT seen to miss Pogoy again.
Pogoy was absent for a second straight game, after suffering a hamstring injury in Game 2.
“Even after the loss in our last game, I was really happy with the effort. The effort was there. We just lost the game because we just didn’t make enough free throws, just a very low percentage from the free throw line, and we made one bad decision, fouling Calvin Oftana taking a three-point shot or a four-point shot,” said Guiao.
