BARANGAY Ginebra took advantage of the absence of Poy Erram for most of the fourth quarter of Game One, doing so with an all-Filipino line-up.
The Gin Kings showed their depth in the 102-90 win over the TNT in the opener of the PBA Governors' Cup Finals, with Justin Brownlee leading the way with 31 points and 12 rebounds.
Brownlee though had to sit for one stretch after he got his fourth foul with Ginebra leading by nine points, 76-67, entering the final 10 minutes of the game.
READ: Jolas calls out Erram after disqualification
Ginebra's locals, however, went on an 11-2 run to build the largest lead of Game One at 87-69 behind Jamie Malonzo (21 points, eight in the fourth), Scottie Thompson, and even Stanley Pringle.
That all but decided the opener of the best-of-seven series, said Ginebra coach Tim Cone.
“We really needed Justin to take a break and get him some rest. You can see him gasping for air and slow to get back on defense. When he got his fourth foul, we kinda forced our hand and said let’s do it now,” said Cone.
“We had a little bit of a cushion. But we were just hoping that the guys would hold the fort until he came back out. But they went out and extended the lead. Jamie had a big shot, had a big pass to Christian [Standhardinger], made a couple of stops against the import. AJ (Aljon Mariano) hit a big shot and he defended the import extremely well to the game plan,” said Cone.
It also helped that Ginebra was able to make the most out of Erram fouling out entering the final nine minutes of the match.
Erram headed back to the bench after back-to-back fouls against Standhardinger, dealing a big blow to a TNT side already without Kelly Williams and Justin Chua, who suffered an injury in the first quarter.

“They are missing Kelly Williams. Without Kelly to back up Poy or Poy backing up Kelly, they have to go small against us. And that causes problems for us in terms of match-ups. But it also causes match-up problems for them. It’s basically whoever is going to take advantage of the situation,” said Cone.
“But Poy is really an important part of what they do because he is a guy that protects the rim. He has size to protect and play Christian and he can also go help on Justin. He is an important part of what they do,” he added.
Erram politely declined to be interviewed after Game One.
Cone said Ginebra was fortunate to take advantage of Erram’s absence instead of the other way around with TNT capable of playing small ball.
“Playing Calvin [Oftana] at the 4 (power forward) is really tough. He also causes kinds of mismatches and they are super quick kinda like the Golden State Warriors when they all play small.
“It’s like the Warriors when they go small in certain stretches when they have Draymond Green at center. They are tough because they are so quick,” said Cone.
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