THE line ‘Be aggressive and be the aggressor’ was written in the white board inside the Barangay Ginebra dugout ahead of its big game against San Miguel – words that Troy Rosario has taken to heart in his new team especially on Sunday.
The product of his effort was Ginebra getting the full benefit of having a versatile stretch big in Rosario, who shot 4-for-8 from threes on his way to his best offensive game since signing with the Gin Kings as an unrestricted free agent during the offseason.
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But Ginebra coach Tim Cone said it is the hustle of Rosario that is proving to be the difference-maker this conference, cracking a joke when Rosario arrived earlier than him at the Willie Caballes Hall and press room for the postgame conference.
“Troy hustles everywhere. He is the only player to have beat me to the podium [press room]. Because he hustles everywhere all the time,” Cone said with a smile.
The game against San Miguel once again proved that Rosario can also score. The 10-year PBA veteran said he is getting more open looks now at Ginebra since the team has a lot of weapons on offense led by resident import Justin Brownlee.
“Mas na-space out ko sarili ko kasi lahat binabantayan. Hindi alam kung sino ‘yung iiskor sa amin,” said Rosario after he finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds in Ginebra’s 93-81 win over San Miguel.
Rosario said Ginebra’s game plan was to spread the floor so that they can attack the paint. But over the course of the game, it became apparent that they needed to make shots from distance to counter what the San Miguel defense was showing.
“In this game, I just took what the defense is giving me. They were really clogging the paint. Binabantayan ako ni June Mar [Fajardo] or ‘yung import, talagang nilalabas ko sila kasi that was also the game plan.
"Space out the bigs para magkaroon ng lane to attack the paint. Coming into this game, game plan talaga namin is get to the paint more than the outside,” said Rosario.
Sunday was the first time Rosario really exploded on offense for Ginebra, but the new acquisition has already been delivering in other aspects of the game.
Entering Sunday’s ballgame, Rosario was third in the entire league in offensive rebounds with 3.5 behind June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel (6.4) and Raymond Almazan of Meralco (4.0) - an average he surpassed against the Beermen when he hauled five.
“It’s been written on the board sa pregame namin. It was written ‘Be aggressive and be the aggressor.’ Coming into this game, we know San Miguel, how big they are, how a power team they are. We have to limit our errors on the defensive end and execute our system,” said Rosario.
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Cone said Rosario’s effort rubbed off on the entire team.
“He was all over the floor. He’s always been all over the floor defensively or us and on the boards and been that X-factor for us,” said Cone.
“But (last Sunday), he was also huge on the offensive side, knocking down shots, getting offensive rebounds. Troy kind of represented our performance tonight. And I thought we just really played hard,” said Cone.
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