GEORGE King found an unlikely person that would help him get out of his slump offensively in the PBA 50th Season Governors’ Cup quarterfinals.
King has regained his usual form offensively over the last two games after averaging only 16.5 points on 14.5 field goal attempts in the first two games of the quarterfinal series against Barangay Ginebra.
Those numbers are below his elimination round where he led all imports who had played in all the games with their respective teams in scoring with an average of 33.7 points on 21.3 shot attempts.
READ: San Miguel stays alive after burying Ginebra in 46-point 3Q
But a talk with his driver Gani Malindog went a long way to ending that slump.
“My driver Gani, my teammates, CJ Perez, have been on me about not hesitating (to) shoot the ball,” said King.
But Malindog is not just an ordinary driver.
Malindog, a longtime San Miguel utility, knows his basketball as he was once a varsity player with National University in the UAAP from 1992 to 1996, where he was once a teammate of Beermen great Danny Ildefonso.
Malindog was even good enough to get drafted by San Miguel at 46th in the 2001 draft where he became a practice player, and eventually a utility guy.
This conference, he is assigned to drive King from where he is staying to games and practices.
King said his struggles on offense is a “mechanical thing.”
“They’re like, you work on your shot all the time, and I’ll be honest with you, my shot didn’t feel good. The first two games, three games, it still didn’t feel great. I’m missing free throws. Historically, I’ve been a 90 percent free throw shooter. So I’m dealing with some mechanical things right now.
“I’m not putting the ball in the basket from a shooting standpoint at the clip that I’ve been for the last three years. It’s something that I’m working through in this very moment. I’m showing flashes and making shots, but a lot of my misses, I’m like shaking my head,” said King.
But King looked to have arrested that mini-slump.
King had 21 points on 9-of-22 shooting in Game 3 where San Miguel stayed alive with a 101-98 win after the Beermen fell behind, 0-2.
'Start the game aggressive'
King had his best game of the quarterfinals where he logged 35 points on 10-of-21 shooting in San Miguel’s 108-102 victory in Game 4, extending the series to a sudden death on Tuesday at the Ynares Center-Antipolo.
“Sabi ko sa kanya, just start the game aggressive,” said Malindog, when asked what he told King. “Tapos, defense and lahat, kapag open siya, tira na niya, no hesitate. Wag ka lang mag-dalawang isip. No hesitate. Basta tumira ka ng tumira.”
King said the output from the most unlikely of source, and someone that he has grown fond off, is of value.
“You get advice like that, basketball advice from a former basketball player, he’s a driver now. He’s an all-purpose guy,” said King of Malindog, who he described as a hardworker.
“Gani works so hard. At practice, he is rebounding. If water bottles are needed to be filled up, he is doing that. He’s doing everything. He works very hard and I have a lot of respect for him. He has a family of his own. He is a girl dad. I love Gani and I’m really happy to have him. He’s a great guy,” he continued.
“But of course, the job is not yet done,” he added.
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.
