STEPHEN Holt was recognized by Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone for his defensive job against George King in Game 2 after the high-scoring import was limited to his lowest point total of the PBA 50th Season Governors’ Cup on Friday.
Holt made King earn every point and possession in Game 2 with the SMB import making just 13 points on 5-of-9 from the field in the Beermen’s 126-99 defeat.
“You got to give Stephen a lot of credit,” Cone said. “Stephen was the one who guarded (King) the most and then Jordan (Murphy) did and Troy (Rosario). It was a nice tag team on him.”
READ: Ginebra a win away from PBA semis after 27-point romp over SMB
Barangay Ginebra continued to limit King’s production after he had 20 points on 9-of-20 from the field in Game 1, which, after Friday’s match-up, was the third lowest offensive production of the San Miguel import in the conference.
Holt deflected the credit to the rest of the team, saying it was a collective effort to make life hard for King on the offensive end.
“He is one of the best imports in the league for a reason,” said Holt. “He’s a high-volume scorer. He is going to hit tough shots. And I tell my guys, whoever is guarding him, we can’t get discouraged if he is going to hit a tough shot because that’s what we want.”
“It’s not just on me. We have a total team game plan. Obviously, it starts with me and Jordan, changing match-ups and what not. But again, Troy has done a good job and sprinkled a bunch of other guys. But again, we’re just not where we want to be yet,” he added.
Game 3 will again go down to defense, Holt said, as Barangay Ginebra goes for a sweep of San Miguel, certainly not an easy task with the quality of players that the Beermen have.
“It just starts in practice. We’ve been having a great week of practice and it’s been translating to the games. I’m so proud of our effort defensively. That’s where it starts with us. We’ve made it difficult for them the past two games and it’s because of our great defense. It allowed our offense to flow a little bit more especially getting out in transition,” Holt said.
“At the end of the day, it’s not about sweep. It’s just about advancing. However we get that third win is what it’s going to be about,” Holt added.
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