Slaughter may yet join Kings in playoff
Seven-foot-one Ginebra behemoth Greg Slaughter may catch up should the Gin Kings go farther down the road in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup playoffs where they set out as the top seeds.
“Greg is back in practice. He’s definitely out of the quarterfinals. But we never know, he can be available as our playoff season wears on,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone.
Slaughter is slowly getting back to shape in his return from the injury he suffered early last season. The injury caused him to miss their Governors Cup title run and their Philippine Cup title duel with San Miguel Beer and his old Cebu cage league nemesis June Mar Fajardo.
Reigning as the elims king in an import-flavored tourney for the first time in 20 years, Ginebra is at pole position as playoff round fires off Monday.
As the top seed, Ginebra’s quarterfinal opponent is the winner of the Alaska Milk Global Port playoff setto.
Should they make the semis, the Gin Kings will be up either against the TNT KaTropa Texters or the Meralco Bolts. But Cone is not looking far ahead yet. “We’re the number one seed, we got twice to beat, but there are still tough teams out there that we have to beat in the quarterfinals,” he said.
“It’s nice to be the number one seed, but there will always be expectations that come with being the number one seed,” he added. “It’s something we have to battle and make sure we don’t put too much pressure on ourselves and don’t live up to the expectations.
He’s not counting out Alaska and GlobalPort.
“If we play Alaska, it will be the third straight quarterfinal against Alaska,” Cone said of his former team. “They’re an incredibly dangerous team and when they got things going well, they’re very, very good.”