BARANGAY Ginebra shoots for a 2-0 lead in the 2023 PBA Governors’ Cup finals against TNT on Wednesday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
The Gin Kings go for up against the Tropang Giga at 5:45 p.m.
See Calvin Oftana says it will take hard work to bring down Ginebra
Ginebra looks to move closer to winning a third straight Governors’ Cup title. The last time a team held a 2-0 lead in the finals was in 2018 with Magnolia going on to capturing the championship.
The Gin Kings defeated the Tropang Giga, 102-90, last Sunday to grab the finals series opener with Justin Brownlee finishing with 31 points and 12 rebounds, while also getting ample support from Jamie Malonzo (21 points, eight rebounds) and Scottie Thompson (10 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists).
Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone, though, expects a different TNT squad will show up on Wednesday after they shot a poor 9-of-35 from threes.
“They didn’t have a great shooting night but they are going to have two to three games where they will shoot the lights out and there’s nothing we can do about it,” Cone said.
TNT coach Jojo Lastimosa also expects his team to recover from their woeful shooting particularly Roger Pogoy and Jayson Castro, who combined for 1-of-8 from threes in Game One.
“He (Pogoy) will figure it out. Even Jayson. Jayson played 31 minutes. We missed Jayson (in Game One). Those guys, they’ve been here. They know what it needs to be done. They will pick it up offensively,” said Lastimosa.
TNT will have to do it with the possibility of a thin rotation in the frontline with the status of Kelly Williams and Justin Chua still uncertain for Game Two. Williams suffered a calf injury in the quarterfinals, while Chua also hurt his right knee last Sunday, and is a gametime decision for Game Two.
The Tropang Giga also hope that Poy Erram will be able to bounce back from his mental lapse in the fourth quarter when he was called for two straight fouls that led to his disqualification.
Lastimosa emphasized the need for Erram to be focused after he became a distraction to the team when he fouled out in Game One.
Brownlee, meanwhile, hopes that they can sustain the teamwork that they showed in Game One.
“You always have to give a lot of credit to your teammates,” said Brownlee. “They came out and played great. Jamie and Scottie, they are always all around. Jamie hit some big baskets. Christian as well. It was an all-around good performance for the whole team. That’s what we pride ourselves. Playing together and everybody doing well and sharing the ball and that’s what you get.”
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