FRANKIE Lim on Monday broke his silence on Ginebra star guard Mark Caguioa’s benching in the second half of Barangay Ginebra's 83-77 loss to lowly Blackwater, saying it wasn’t planned.
The Ginebra coach explained the good performances of Sol Mercado, LA Tenorio and Josh Urbiztondo in the second half of the PBA Governors Cup game against the Elite on Saturday in Dipolog city convinced him that it would be better for Caguioa to stay on the bench.
“Hindi ko naman na-plano 'yun (Caguioa’s benching). But I was looking for Sol, Josh and LA and they were playing well, so pinabayaan ko na sila (sa loob in the second half),” Lim told Spin.ph after the team’s practice on Monday at the CCF gym in Ortigas, Pasig.
Caguioa, Ginebra's third leading scorer through three game with a 10-point average, was clearly not in his element in the first half against Blackwater, going 0-of-2 from the field to go with three rebounds and a turnover in 14 minutes.
[See Why was Caguioa benched? This much we learned]
Benched the entire second half, the former league MVP ended up going scoreless in a game for the first time in almost a year, or since June 15, 2014 when he went 0-for-6 from the field in 28 minutes as a starter in a 92-96 Ginebra loss to Talk 'N Text.
Lim, a multi-titled NCAA champion coach, said his guards are doing their best to adapt to his system, but a bad game is something they have no control of.
“Okay naman sila (guards) so far. Pero siguro, there are times na masama 'yung game nila. And at times, they started on the wrong foot pagdating sa game so medyo nagkakaroon ng off (night),” Lim said.
Ginebra is set to fly to Dubai early Tuesday morning for an official game against winless Rain or Shine on Friday at the Al Shabab Al Arabi Club.
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