Why Ginebra lost

Crowd favorite Barangay Ginebra was bundled out of contention by Magnolia in the knockout Game 3 of their best-of-three series and looked like a tired bunch down the stretch as coach Tim Cone made his exit from the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last Wednesday. 

Ginebra took Game 1, 86-75 then lost two in a row, 106-77 and 85-72 as the Hotshots ran the Barangay to the ground in a fiery wind-up that took the wind out of their sails. In Game 2, Magnolia had more turnover points, 26-12 and fastbreak points, 18-4 and it was the same pattern in Game 3 as the Hotshots had more turnover points, 19-8 and fastbreak points, 18-2. Magnolia conducted a clinic of fueling offense with defense, burning rubber to leave Ginebra gasping for breath in a rotation that lacked depth.

Magnolia coach Chito Victolero set the tone from the onset by starting Jio Jalalon and Mark Barroca in a “small but terrible” backcourt. The idea was to press Ginebra into a spate of turnovers, keep them on the backfoot and disrupt the flow of their offense. Paul Lee came off the bench like he did in Game 2 and provided instant firepower.

If Magnolia’s pick-and-roll is the Hotshots’ bread-and-butter play, Ginebra’s favorite is the high-low with the Twin Towers, Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar, combining to execute their aerial maneuver. The difference is Magnolia employs variations to the pick-and-roll using the extra pass to find the open man while the high-low is basically a two-man situation and predictable. In Game 3, Magnolia came prepared to stop the high-low with Rafi Reavis at the top bothering Slaughter and Ian Sangalang crowding Aguilar under the basket. Other Hotshots closed in to congest the paint and leave little space for Ginebra’s bigs to operate.

When the Hotshots ran the pick-and-roll in Game 3, Lee read the defense before deciding how to attack. His options were to use the ball-screen to pull up for a jumper off a sliding defender, drive in off a switch, pass to the roller or the popper and involve a third party who might be open if his man helped. Those possibilities drove Ginebra crazy. Aljon Mariano could’ve matched up with Lee but never played last Wednesday. L. A. Tenorio, Sol Mercado and Scottie Thompson took turns trying to break Lee down but wore themselves out. Tenorio played 39:26 minutes in the clincher but went only 2-of-12 from the field and Mercado was 3-of-7 in 11:58. Thompson shot 1-of-11 but delivered 19 boards and seven assists in 43:33.

Magnolia’s unforgiving defense limited Ginebra to only 14 points in the second quarter and 13 in the third. Cone sent in nine players, three of whom logged at least 36 minutes so the rotation was on a short leash. The problem was those three players – Aguilar, Tenorio and Thompson – were a combined 9-of-33 from the floor. The imbalance was evident in the stats that showed only three players scored in the second, third and fourth periods.

Not even Jeff Chan’s fourth quarter storm could stem the tide. Chan was scoreless in the first three quarters and erupted for 17 in the payoff period but by then, Magnolia’s lead had ballooned to 22. Ginebra’s last-ditch uprising brought the gap down to nine. However, the Hotshots wouldn’t give up the driver’s seat. Slaughter was saddled with five personals in the last quarter and finished with only nine points in 23:10 minutes. Worse, he had only five boards, none offensive.

Joe DeVance, Cone’s trusted fixture from his Alaska and B-Meg/San Mig Coffee days, put in 28:15 minutes of work and fired 12 points but went scoreless the entire second half. It was DeVance’s first start in the conference. Art de la Cruz tried to contribute but was shackled, too, hitting only 1-of-8. Rome de la Rosa, a defensive specialist, took care of that.

Reavis’ length was a big factor. He’s 41 but he plays a lot younger. Magnolia PBA governor Rene Pardo said Reavis’ goal is to play longer than Asi Taulava who’s still active at 46. Reavis didn’t miss in Game 3, going 3-of-3 and finished with six points, eight rebounds and two steals in 29:47 minutes. Reavis played over six minutes more than Slaughter who’s 30.

Things should be different for Ginebra in the Commissioner’s Cup where Justin Brownlee is making a comeback. With Brownlee, Ginebra can afford a short rotation because he’s a workhorse at three, four or even five. But the other teams are getting ready to bring down Ginebra. Brownlee is undersized in the conference where the import limit is 6-10 and if the quality of big men rises several notches higher than last season, it’ll be a challenge for Ginebra to retain the title.