Barangay Ginebra shakes off Barako Bull for solo second place Barangay Ginebra 94 – Barako Bull 75 Sometimes, the real manifestation of a sports team’s strength lies not in defeating high-profile opponents, but in being able to withstand challenges even from the smallest of adversaries. After all, it’s rarely completely impossible for one team to be unable to defeat another. Between bad shooting nights, or good shooting nights for the underdog, random injuries, and of course, the mythical “breaks of the game,” there’s a reason why games are still played, as opposed to just comparing line-ups on paper. With Barangay Ginebra blasting the Grand Slam winning Purefoods Star Hotshots in the latest edition of the Manila Clasico last Sunday, the Gin Kings looked every inch a title-contender, with a lofty 4-1 slate in the standings as proof of that claim. So on Wednesday, faced against one of the league’s doormats in the winless Barako Bull Energy, Barangay Ginebra was a definite favorite to win this one. The thought of a wire-to-wire finish was also a big possibility especially with the way the Gin Kings handled the Kia Sorentos several weeks ago. But as it turns out, this match-up with the Energy did not turned out to be a walk in the park. The Gin Kings may have thumped the Energy by 19 points, even leading by as much as 23 at one point, to triumphantly carve out a 94-75 win, but it took some serious work and a total team effort for Barangay Ginebra to register its fifth win in the elimination round. Playing with, well, superb energy, Barako Bull stormed out of the gate to take the upper hand in the first half, even erecting a 13-point lead midway in the second period. Not only was the backcourt engine of Denok Miranda and RR Garcia humming well for the Energy, with the duo collaborating for 19 points, the whole team was getting it on in the rebounding department, out-hustling Ginebra’s trees for a 29-23 edge highlighted by 11 offensive boards as to the Gin King’s 4. With the possibility of a huge-scale upset staring down on them, it was time for Barangay Ginebra to show it belonged in the PBA’s upper echelon. Playing effective team ball, Barangay Ginebra swung the rock around in finding the open man, as they added 18 assists in the second half, notching 32 all-in-all, as they found their perimeter and inside threats. This was in stark contrast to Barako Bull, which could only muster 12 assists as a unit for the whole 48 minutes, with six assists split between halves. By game’s end, Barangay Ginebra registered a balanced point production coming from both the outside and inside with gunners Joseph Yeo and Mark Caguioa having 17 and 15, while the towering pair of Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar got 14 and 10. Passing this test, the Gin Kings are looking to ride on the crest of this win as they prepare to go head-on against reigning league MVP June Mar Fajardo and the rest of the San Miguel Beermen come Sunday. source: SLAM online
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 16:16:07 +0000
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