Defending champs Kings make Governors’ Cup debut
BACK-TO-BACK defending Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup champions Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings begin their quest for a three-peat today when they make their tournament debut against Columbian Dyip at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Topped the season-ending PBA tournament in each of the last two seasons, the Kings, also the champions in the previous tournament Commissioner’s Cup, seek a third straight Governors’ Cup title anchored once again by returning import Justin Brownlee.
Mr. Brownlee also led Barangay Ginebra to the Commissioner’s Cup title, coming in as a replacement midway into the tournament. His all-around play is something that the Kings hope to keep on tapping as they begin their campaign in the ongoing conference.
Backstopping Mr. Brownlee is the Barangay Ginebra core of LA Tenorio, Scottie Thompson, Greg Slaughter, Joe Devance, Japeth Aguilar, Sol Mercado, Mark Caguioa, and Kevin Ferrer.
While they feel good to have Mr. Brownlee back as import, the Kings know that he has his work cut out for him as the other teams zero in on trying to limit his impact.
“I think Justin is going to have a huge target on his chest come the Governors’ Cup,” Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone shared after bagging the Commissioner’s Cup title.
“In the Governors’ Cup there are a lot of imports that can match up with him and are out to focus on him,” he added.
The champion Kings coach went on to say that they in the coaching staff must a find a way to help ease the burden on Mr. Brownlee so as to get their desired result of winning the championship.
Out to stop the Kings in their first game are the Dyip (0-3), who are looking to finally break through the win column after three unsuccessful attempts to date.
Their latest defeat came just last Wednesday at the hands of the NLEX Road Warriors, 116104.
Much like in their two previous games, Columbian was in the thick of the fight for much of the contest against NLEX but just could not pull it off in the end.
Dyip import Akeem Wright had another solid outing, finishing with 37 points, 17 rebounds, and five assists with Jerramy King adding 22 points.
The Kings-Dyip game is set for 7 p.m.
Meanwhile, playing in the curtain-raiser at 4:30 p.m are the Phoenix Fuel Masters (2-1) and the TNT KaTropa (1-3).
Phoenix absorbed its first defeat of the tournament on Wednesday against the Alaska Aces while TNT is currently riding back-to-back losses. —