HANGING ON THE ROPES
Gin Kings woes continue in latest loss
Coach Tim Cone could hardly hide his disappointment after Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s struggles in the PBA Philippine Cup continued with an 89-75 loss to Alaska.
The Gin Kings failed to replicate their comeback victory over the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters two days earlier after another flat start that resulted in a listless showing throughout the contest.
Whie Ginebra never got it going, Alaska put on a huge effort despite being out for more than two weeks because of COVID-19 protocols.
A disappointed Cone forced himself to play the role of spectator and let his assistants Richard del Rosario and Olsen Racela do most of the coaching but to no avail as Ginebra dropped to ninth place at 4-6 with a game left in the eliminations. Ginebra never posted a losing record in the first 13 conferences under the PBA’s winningest coach.
The struggles have left fans impatient, prompting Gin Kings veteran Joe Devance to acknowledge the criticisms on social media.
“The hate is all a part of the job as well. Have to be man enough to take the good with the bad,” Devance said. “It’s easy for them to talk trash when we are struggling but praise us when we win the championship. It’s all good guys.”
The most important thing now for the holders of the league’s most important championship is for them to win their final elimination round assignment which will likely be scheduled next week.
Their last opponent in the eliminations are the Meralco Bolts, who sit in second place with a 6-2 record.
Japeth Aguilar has missed the last two games with an MCL sprain, and is likely to miss at least another week barring a recovery that will allow him to suit up as soon as possible.
Bacolor hasn’t been kind to Ginebra since the Philippine Cup resumed two weeks ago, dropping four of the six matches at the Don Honorio Ventura State University.
Two of those were against teams with more losses than victories, namely Alaska and Terrafirma which pulled off a 95-90 upset last Sept. 3.
The rest came against fellow title contenders San Miguel Beer (111-102) and TNT (88-67) last week.
Ginebra’s other win at the DHVSU campus was against Rain or Shine with a hard-fought 83-77 triumph last Sept. 8.