ANTIPOLO – George King rued the free throws, or the lack thereof, that were awarded to San Miguel in Game 5 of the PBA 50th Season Governors’ Cup quarterfinals against Barangay Ginebra.
The Beermen shot just 7-of-8 from the free throw line, three of which from King, a fact that was astounding to the import.
Even more surprising for King was that Barangay Ginebra shot 27-of-30 from the line, with Jordan Murphy going 15-of-16, his attempts being double what San Miguel attempted the whole game.
READ: Ginebra rides 25-2 blitz to overturn Game 5 vs SMB, reach semis
King finished with 31 points, six rebounds, three assists, and four steals despite being in foul trouble, but it was not enough as Barangay Ginebra won over San Miguel, 110-94, in Game 5 to advance to the semifinals.
“I thought we played well enough to win. It’s hard to win games when they shoot 30 free throws as a team and we shoot seven (made) free throws. It’s very difficult to win like that,” said King.
“That was the difference in the game. Honestly, it was. If you look at the box score from a team perspective, assists, each had 16 assists. We had 40 rebounds, they had 45 rebounds. No real difference there. We had about the same number of turnovers. They had four blocks, we had none. No real difference. But if you look at the free throws, that’s where the difference was tonight,” he continued.
“Ginebra attempted 20 plus more free throws than we did. Jordan Murphy had more than double the free throws than we attempted as a team… That was how Ginebra got this game tonight,” he added.
A lay-up by King put San Miguel ahead, 76-63, late in the third quarter, drawing boos from the crowd after doing his usual celebration of him wearing an imaginary crown in his end.
Afterwards, things shifted as Barangay Ginebra went on a 38-6 blast bridging from the late third to early fourth quarters.
As far as his foul troubles, King stressed the same point.
“That goes back to my point. The whistle. Two of my fouls were not warranted. They just blew the whistle on me. I’m not going to say and tell you that I was innocent and I didn’t foul at all," he shared.
Of course, I had some fouls. But two of which were, frankly put, bad calls. One of them, I wasn’t near the guy. That goes back to my main point. It’s almost like we were targeted. I’m just speaking frankly," he added. “Like I said, we played well enough to win this game."
Despite being booed by the Barangay Ginebra fans, King showed some love at the end of the game, by displaying a heart sign to the crowd after the match.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
