Ginebra’s triangle too much for Kia
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel evidently is slowly getting comfortable playing under coach Tim Cone's triangle offense after clobbering Kia, 120-99, yesterday in the PBA Governors' Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Import Justin Brownlee had 26 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, Greg Slaughter produced 18 points, six rebounds and five assists and Mark Caguioa scored 16 points in 13 minutes as Ginebra cruised to victory after leading by a high of 34 points during garbage time.
After losing to Meralco in its opening assignment, Ginebra won back-to-back games after dishing out 39 assists using Cone's signature offensive scheme which he veered away from in previous conferences to implement a more uptempo style.
“The triangle is helping us with our ball movement and our tempo, and that's really the key,” said Cone.
Scottie Thompson accounted for nearly a third of the team's assist numbers, dishing out 10 in 28 minutes of action. Benefiting from some of those passes was Slaughter, who seems to be getting better and comfortable after his third game since missing almost a year due to a knee injury.
Ginebra's wire-to-wire win over Kia served as a warmup for Saturday's game against NLEX in Calasiao, Pangasinan.
The Petron Saturday Special will see Ginebra facing an NLEX team that started the conference with four consecutive victories and the early lead.
Rookie guard Reden Celda scored 21 points but Kia's frustration continued after losing its fourth straight.
Caguioa scored 10 of his 16 during a 12-0 run bridging the third and fourth peri- ods to give Ginebra its largest lead at 98-64, 9:33 remaining in the contest.
In the second game, San Miguel defeated TNT KaTropa, 97-91, in their first meeting since the Commissioner's Cup Finals. The Beermen, with June Mar Fajardo scoring 27 points, picked up their second straight win.