BY the end of Friday, Barangay Ginebra and NLEX kept their winning streak going in the PBA Philippine Cup.
The Kings leaned on Japeth Aguilar's game winner to escape Blackwater Bossing, 101-99, while the Road Warriors survived the repeated comebacks by the Converge FiberXers, 88-83, at the Philsports Arena.
The win was the third straight for Ginebra, which improved to 5-2 in a tie with San Miguel.
READ: Cone thrilled to see 'Batman' Japeth Aguilar save the day for Ginebra
The Road Warriors on the other hand, marched to their sixth straight win at 6-1 to keep up with Magnolia for the provisional lead.
Converge fell at 5-4 and Blackwater at 1-6.
Here are three takeaways in the league’s weekend doubleheader.
1.NLEX ON THE ROAD TO SOMETHING BIG
Quietly, the Road Warriors have put up a string of victories that now stands as the best in franchise history at sixth straight wins.
The mark already eclipsed the five consecutive games NLEX won during the 2019 Governors’ Cup and gave it a piece of the lead with the Magnolia Hotshots.
For a team that was hardly given a second look at the start of the conference, the feat is considered special for the Road Warriors, who have yet to reach the finals in its 10-year existence and had been in the semis the last time during the 2021 Governors’ Cup.
2.GINEBRA’S NEW BATMAN
At age 38, it’s only now that veteran big man Japeth Aguilar has emerged as the new leader of the Barangay Ginebra squad.
With long-time team captain LA Tenorio poised for a coaching job in a year or two, the 6-foot-9 Pampanga native assumed the baton of leadership for the Kings.
He proved that in the thrilling match against the Bossing by draining the game-winner off a broken play. Aguilar finished with 22 points, including nine in the final frame. He also had six rebounds, shot 8-of-12 from the field, and 6-of-7 from the foul line.
No wonder, coach Tim Cone acknowledged Aguilar as the Kings’ new Batman after previously serving as Robin to Greg Slaughter and Christian Standhardinger.
3.BLACKWATER HAS TOOLS TO COMPETE
When focused and motivated, the Bossing showed it can stand toe-to-toe with the top contenders in the league.
Just as everybody expected them to just roll over against the Kings, Blackwater displayed the will to win as rookie Sedric Barefield, sophomore Christian David, the amazing RK Ilagan, and even Troy Malilin kept the team in the fight, so much so the Kings needed a last-second game-winning play from Aguilar to finally take down the Bossing.
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