ASIDE from Justin Brownlee, much of the credit for the Game 2 win by Barangay Ginebra went to Stephen Holt and his defense against TNT import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
Holt almost exclusively took on the task of guarding RHJ on Sunday and trying to make him earn every point in the game. Hollis-Jefferson still wound up with 25 points, but shot a woeful 6-of-23 from the field.
Jamie Malonzo also took his turnsdefending Hollis-Jefferson, helping Ginebra limit TNT to only four points in the second quarter and 19 points in the first half, both PBa Finals lows. The Gins eventually won the low-scoring affair, 71-70.
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“I think it was just, all-around, a great team effort on defense. But especially, you’ve got to give a lot of credit to Jamie and Stephen,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone. “They played incredible defense on RHJ the whole night, Stephen and Jamie coming out and giving RHJ a hard time.”
Holt said he needed to turn his effort up a notch especially since Ginebra didn’t want to fall 0-2 down in the series after losing the series opener, 95-89.
“When you lose a game, you have to make adjustments individually and as a team,” said Holt. “We wanted to pick him (Hollis-Jefferson) up 94 feet, just to make sure we have contact with him all the time."
Holt was on Hollis-Jefferson until the final play of the game, combining with Scottie Thompson on a double-team that prevented the TNT import from getting a decent shot at a game-winner in the game's final play.
“Obviously, he’s a great player. He’s going to make some tough shots, and we just want to make it difficult for the whole entire game.
“And I know I’ll probably get credit for the last stop of the game. That's a total team effort, the way they tried to help me in the last second or two. But again, team defense is why we won,” said Holt.
Holt was everywhereon defense.
With two minutes gone by in the first quarter, Holt made a diving steal, taking the ball away from Calvin Oftana – one of the key plays that enabled the Gins to grab a 7-0 lead to start the match-up.
“You just have to have contact, be physical with all their players, not just Rondae obviously, Pogoy, Oftana and the rest of the crew,” said Holt on his steal early in the game.
“We wanted to set the tone with that intensity coming off the loss. Again, it was ugly (in Game 2), I mean for both teams playing in the 70s, that's unheard of in the PBA.”
Even with the fine defensive effort, Holt said he could still improve especially on offense after scoring seven points on 1-of-6 shooting.
“The players are able to score, but again it’s the finals so everyone’s locking into their respective scouting reports. We feed off the crowd. Obviously we made some mistakes defensively with our coverages, a couple of turnovers but we endured and that’s what it takes to win a championship.
“This is a veteran-led group like I said. (Game One) wasn’t my night, missed obviously some open shots. Other guys missed some open shots but, when it mattered most, we were able to get that stop and that's what means the most to this group,” Holt said.
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