BLACKWATER was on a roll and Barangay Ginebra on the bounce back on a rainy Tuesday in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
The Bossing lost no time scoring a follow up to their giant upset of the Kings a week ago by taking down the Phoenix Fuel Masters, 123-111, as new import George King picked up from where he left off in his league debut.
The Kings on the other hand, found the perfect time to spring back to life by thrashing the NLEX Road Warriors, 119-91.
Winning two in a row, Blackwater now carries a 2-3 mark in Group B, while Ginebra evened its record at 2-2 in a tie with San Miguel.
Despite parading a new import in Brandone Francis, Phoenix stil couldn’t break through and suffered a fourth straight loss in the same group where NLEX remained at solo second (3-2) despite its loss to Ginebra.
Here’s a rundown of the takeaways in the league’s doubleheader that returned at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
1. THERE’S A NEW BATMAN AND ROBIN TANDEM AT BLACKWATER – For the second straight game, King and rookie Sedrick Barefield showed how potent their tandem can be. King finished with 44 points and Sedrick his best output in the league so far with 32 as the two combined for more than half of the team’s total output while shooting 50 percent or higher from the field. King also had 13 rebounds, while shooting 2-of-4 from the 4-point arc. One can see the huge difference in the way the Bossing played since King, the former second round pick of the Phoenix Suns, came on board as a replacement to Ricky Ledo.
2. PHOENIX GETS THE MOST OUT OF NEW IMPORT – It had been a hectic 24 hours for Francis as a late call up by the Fuel Masters. The former Dominican Republic national player arrived in the country on Monday amid heavy rains, then was measured in the PBA office by lunchtime of Tuesday, before proceeding to the Big Dome for the game against Blackwater. The adrenaline must be flowing that he played the entire 48 minutes and finished with 45 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists as he engaged King in a scoring duel. Too bad, Phoenix remained winless in the conference. The Fuel Masters will next face Barangay Ginebra on Friday, and hopefully, Francis won’t be feeling the effects of jetlag yet by that time.
3. STEPHEN HOLT ANSWERS THE CALL FOR GINEBRA – four games after, and sophomore guard Holt finally did what was expected of him since being acquired from Terrafirma in a blockbuster off-season trade. Last year’s Rookie of the Year came through with a game-high 26 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists, numbers which he consistently churned out while still with the Dyip especially during the team’s run in last season’s Philippine Cup when the franchise made it to the playoffs for the first time in eight years.
4.GINEBRA GUARDS SHOWED IT CAN CO-EXIST – it’s not only Holt who showed up among Ginebra’s backcourt players. Maverick Ahanmisi also played his best game of the season, so did the returning Scottie Thompson, and rookie RJ Abarrientos. All four guards finished in double figures, with Ahanmisi accounting for 20 points and Thompson and Abarrientos with 19 each. They also accounted for 17 of the Kings’ total 30 assists, and 24 of the team’s 46 rebounds. All four were in the same zone that import Justine Brownlee gave the limelight to them by carving out a quiet 13-point, nine-assist, seven-rebound job.
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