Gin Kings itch for more

MANILA, Philippines — Seven PBA titles in the last 15 conferences and still, Barangay Ginebra is hungry for more.

Fresh from their hard-earned conquest of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup, the Gin Kings are already setting their sights on securing a three-peat in the Governors’ Cup that tips off on Sunday.

“Tuloy-tuloy lang,” Ginebra star Scottie Thompson said of what’s to come after the epic mid-season championship. “Hopefully maging healthy throughout at makapag-contribute every game.”

During an interview with The Game on One Sports, the reigning MVP ranked their recent 4-3 finals triumph against tough Bay Area of Hong Kong the highest among the crowd darlings’ accomplishments.

“I think ito ang pinaka-best championship namin. We never know kailan mangyayari ito against foreign guest team and may legit NBA pa na nakalaban dito,” he said, referring to Dragons’ prolific imports Andrew Nicholson and Myles Powell.

Resident Ginebra reinforcement Justin Brownlee continues the journey in his pet tournament, where he won four of his six PBA championships.

“Though we’ve won multiple championships, it never gets old,” the three-time Best Import said.

According to the schedule released by the PBA yesterday, Ginebra kicks off its title-defense on Feb. 5 against Rain or Shine.

But for the rest of the field, the grind in the season-ending tournament begins Sunday.

First up is Meralco against the Elasto Painters (4:30 p.m.) then Converge versus NorthPort (6:45 p.m.) at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

Action goes full-blast from there as the league plays daily games from Wednesday to Sunday.

A double-header pitting Blackwater with NLEX and TNT against Phoenix on Jan. 25 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum starts the second week, followed by the Terrafirma-Converge and NorthPort-Meralco the next day at the PhilSports again.

For the next three days, the games swing to the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

featuring Phoenix-Blackwater and ROS-TNT on Jan. 27; Meralco-Terrafirma and NLEX-NorthPort on Jan. 28 and Converge-Magnolia and San Miguel Beer-Phoenix on Jan. 29.