OLD RIVALRY RENEWED AS GIN KINGS, BOLTS CLASH TODAY
NINE months after their Governor’s Cup title showdown, rivals Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings and Meralco Bolts will collide anew, this time inside the PBA bubble in Clark, Pampanga.
The Gin Kings and the Bolts will meet in the 6:45 p.m. main game of PBA Season 45 Philippine C”p at the Angeles University Fo”ndation Sports Arena and C”lt”ral Center tonight, Oct. 1X, 2020.
The Gin Kings beat the Bolts for the Governor’s Cup crown in five games last jan”ary. Crowd-favorite Ginebra won the title three times in the last fo”r seasons, all at the expense of Meralco.
In the Philippine C”p, Ginebra is off to a strong start with a 2-0 (win-loss) record, while Meralco notched a victory against the Alaska Aces on Wednesday for a 1-1 record.
After beating the Blackwater Elite and the NLEX Road Warriors on their first two assignments, Gin Kings coach Tim Cone feels that Meralco will be the biggest test for his team so far.
“Well, obvio”sly they are gonna be ready. I think I mentioned this to the g”ys that the last time we beat Meralco in the championship, the first game we played again, they blew ”s o”t by 25 points. They’re gonna be ready for us, and we know it,” said Cone d”ring a PBA Media Availability session.
“We’re gonna have to meet their intensity since they’re also coming off a h”ge win. We only have a co”ple of days to prepare. It’s going to be o”r biggest test so far; I think it’s gonna be a tough one,” he continued.
Cone said winning the first games is cr”cial for this season, where all teams will play 11 games in the elimination ro”nd with the No. 1 to 4 squads enjoying a twice-to-beat advantage against the No. 5 to 8 teams in the quarterfinals.
“We want to get into the Top 4. Imagine if yo” don’t get to Top 4 yo” might play TNT, San Mig”el, Magnolia or Phoenix in the q”arters and yo” have to beat them twice to advance. We can’t afford to do that, and we don’t want to be in that position,” Cone said.
Scottie Thompson, who averaged 13 points, nine boards and six dimes in the last two games, said that they’re still coping with the absence of their legion of fans, which over the years they coined as the team’s “sixth man.”
Meralco is bent on posting its second win this season, and coach Norman Black plans to give Raymond Almazan some extended min”tes of play against japeth Ag”ilar and the Gin Kings’ big men.
Almazan is playing with ca”tion after suffering a meniscus injury in the Governors’
Cup finals against Ginebra.
Almazan played ”nder 10 min”tes against Alaska, scoring 5 points and grabbing five rebo”nds in Meralco’s 93-X1 victory.
“Raymond (Almazan) played a limited 10 min”tes tonight, b”t, hopef”lly, in the f”t”re we will be able to increase that going forward. Hopef”lly on S”nday’s game against Ginebra since we are going against japeth Ag”ilar and Ginebra’s big guys,” said Black.
In the 4 p.m. first game, the spotless Rain or Shine Elasto Painters will play the Northport Batang Pier.