ROOKIE big man Greg Slaughter pinned the blame on "selfish basketball" for Barangay Ginebra's 66-79 loss to Alaska in their PBA Governors Cup face-off at the Mall of Asia Arena on Friday night.
“We can’t execute because we were pretty selfish today, not getting people the ball and that’s just what happens - 66 points,” the top pick overall in this year's rookie draft said in a straight-forward manner after checking out the post-game statistics.
The numbers bear out Slaughter's claim.
Ginebra, which wasted a chance to lock up a place in the Top 4 and a twice-to-beat advantage in the playoffs, had 16 more turnovers (27) than assists (11). The team also made just 38.5 percent of their shots (25-65).
Those 27 turnovers also led to 27 points for Alaska.
The 6-11 Slaughter, easily the steadiest player for Ginebra in the season-ending conference, was held to a tournament-low seven points as he took just four attempts from the field and three from the foul line.
Slaughter gave credit to the Aces’ pressure defense, but more than anything else the 26-year-old former Ateneo star said it was Ginebra's failure to share the ball that led to its downfall.
“They (Aces) pressured us well, credit to them about that, but it was more of just on our end of not sharing the ball today,” he said.
After their third loss in eight games, the Gin Kings will need a win over Talk 'N Text on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum to secure a place in the Top 4.
“We’ve got one day to get ready. We can’t dwell on this (loss). Hopefully, we learn that if we play selfish, we won’t go anywhere,” said the Ginebra freshman center.
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