ATO Agustin felt Barangay Ginebra failed to come out with an all-out effort especially in terms of rebounding following the Kings’ 79-83 loss to San Mig Super Coffee in the PLDT myDSL-PBA Philippine Cup before a full-house crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The Kings’ big men particularly Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter were effectively shackled inside the paint by a tall and physical San Mig frontline, leading to the Mixers’ sizeable 62-39 advantage off the boards.
“Nag-remind na nga ako nung huddle namin saka nung start of the game. Nung mga previous games namin especially against Meralco, ni-remind ko rin sila. Sabi ko, we have a seven-footer here pero talo tayo sa rebounds, eh first quarter pa lang 23-8 na lamang (on the rebounds),” rued Agustin.
Aguilar, the 6-foot-9 athletic forward, fired a personal conference-best 26 points, but finished with just seven boards, while the 6-foot-11 Slaughter only had six rebounds as Ginebra’s dreaded 'Twin Towers' couldn’t make a dent against the smaller San Mig frontline.
The soft-spoken Ginebra coach said he was wondering what went wrong in the game, considering the Kings had a very good practice on Saturday as they prepared for the match against the Mixers.
“We had a good practice yesterday pero I don’t know what happened. Di naman natin masisisi dahil dumarating din ang ganyan,” he added.
The upside though, according to Agustin is that Ginebra is still on top of the standings with a 9-2 record with three games left on its elimination round schedule.
“One thing going, nakauna na kami, 9-2 kami ngayon. But the remaining games kailangan manalo kami, starting against Barako (Bull),” he added.
Barangay Ginebra will take a one-week break before returning to action to take on Barako Bull next Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
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