San Miguel Beer might be looking for a rare three-peat, but sister team Barangay Ginebra is dead serious in coming up with its own historic chase, hoping to win back-to-back in the Governors’ Cup.
The Gin Kings are making a serious run, extending their winning streak to seven games, putting themselves into the lead of the 12-team cast.
Barangay Ginebra’s rise has a lot to do with the return of seven-foot slotman Greg Slaughter, who is back to his familiar role as the anchor of the Gin Kings’ solid inside game. His comeback also allowed the defending champions to go bigger, giving the squad the opportunity to field in a five-man tall lineup.
Slaughter’s return means Ginebra also has to revert to its pet triangle offense, an offensive scheme that has produced many championships for Tim Cone.
But Slaughter is just one of the reasons for the Gin Kings’ return to greatness.
There’s Japeth Aguilar, the slam-dunking, 6-foot-9 athletic forward who had shown a lot of maturity in his game.
With Slaughter back on his role of manning the paint, Aguilar can now concentrate on doing the things he love. He’s serving as the Gin Kings’ rim protector as evident in the team’s latest win against the Blackwater Elite when he swatted away a short stab by import Henry Walker.
Cone considered that play as “game changer” and Aguilar’s energy on altering the shots of the enemies made the Gin Kings tougher on the defensive end.
There’s import Justin Brownlee, whose overall performance has put him as one of the yardsticks among the imports seeing action so far. He is just one of the few reinforcements that have yet to be replaced this conference and the hero of last season’s finale has been ably keeping a hold of the Gin Kings, hoping he could relive the great moments of the dramatic scene that happened a year ago.
Scottie Thompson is one among the exciting players to watch and his energy level has been pumping up the rest of the squad.
A player capable of dishing out a triple-double every game, Thompson’s court vision, his unselfishness and his uncanny ability to grab a rebound against players taller than him, makes him endeared to the fans.
One player who has worked behind all these great scenes is Joe Devance, a veteran player who has served as the glue guy for the Gin Kings.
A player capable of playing all five positions, Devance’s versatility allows Ginebra to run either big or small inside the court. The 6-foot-7 Fil-Am has been having the most difficult task this conference, defending against the opposing imports, serving as facilitator and yes, scoring without much getting noticed.
Silently but effectively, Devance has contributed in a big way. Not normally known as a stats guy, he has averaged about 15 points a game while providing a lot of help on both ends of the court for the Gin Kings.
With guns blazing and people doing their job on all corners, the Gin Kings are right there ready to write their own history and in a subtle way, try to spoil the Beermen’s grand slam aspirations.
Rey Joble has been covering the PBA games for more than a decade. He is a member of the PBA Press Corps and Philippine Sportswriters Association, the oldest journalism group in the country.
