ANTIPOLO – George King had his best outing in a San Miguel uniform on the offensive end, scoring 41 points in the Beermen’s 128-122 victory over Converge to stay unbeaten in the PBA 50th Season Governors’ Cup.
King shot 16-of-32 from the field, the most that he took going into just his third game with the Beermen, who stayed unbeaten following his brilliance on the offensive end. He had 11 points in the first quarter, then went for 13 and 12 in the third and fourth quarter respectively to lead San Miguel to the win.
He is now averaging 36.0 points, while also producing in other departments with 10.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2.3 steals.
READ: George King, Cjay Perez preside over San Miguel rout of Converge
“It’s always good to be undefeated,” King said after his performance gave San Miguel a 3-0 win-loss record and in joint first place with NLEX in Group A.
“We started off hot early. It builds the momentum, especially with the circumstances with me being a new addition here. Still learning each other building chemistry, but I think we showed tonight moments of chemistry. I'm happy with that,” King added.
With King around, the Governors’ Cup campaign is, so far, a total contrast to last conference where San Miguel had to switch imports twice during the Commissioner’s Cup after replacing Marcus Lee and Justin Patton.
The Beermen settled with Bennie Boatwright, the same import that brought them to the 2023-24 (Season 48) Commissioner's Cup title, but they still lost in the quarterfinals to Rain or Shine.
Safe to say, there won’t be a repeat of that Commissioner’s Cup debacle.
“Very safe,” San Miguel deputy coach Peter Martin said, visibly happy with the team’s performance with King.
“Minsan kukunin niya ‘yung board, siya ang mag-aano ng play para sa amin. Makes our job really much easier. He talks to the players. At the start, he won’t be so aggressive. First game, puro pasa nga siya. Sabi ko nga sa kanya, it’s up to him. He knows how to play with these guys. He knows how to motivate,” Martin added.
If there needs to be fine-tuning in the game of San Miguel, Martin and King agree that it is still the chemistry between each other.
“Konti pa siguro, konting familiarity pa, magiging okay. Depensa din siguro, konting familiarity pa, magiging okay na,” Martin said.
But King said they are getting there as they are starting to enjoy their company on and off the court, a component that will help the Beermen in their bid to make this Governors’ Cup campaign a successful one.
“For me, it’s easy to lose focus that it is a game. And I go back to my early stages of this game where I did it because it was fun and I enjoyed it. I still do, but I believe that at this point, sometimes it can be easy to forget that. Recently, I’ve been reminded of that and I’m using it going forward," he said.
“Obviously, we are making plays, and we are making our opponents call a timeout, and we are literally sitting there, and dancing, and just building our chemistry. I think these are the things that are going to pay off for us down the road if we continue to have success. I think it’s going to pay off for us going forward."
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.
