The Llamados gun for a second straight win in the semifinals of the PBA Governors Cup Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum, taking on a Barangay Ginebra squad which to B-Meg coach Jorge Gallent, is precisely a clone of Rain or Shine.
“We will play a team that’s like Rain or Shine,” said Gallent. “They just like to push the ball. They have a quick import, he matches their system. Ginebra loves to run and we just have to sprint back on defense.”
B-Meg opened its semifinal stint on Friday with a gripping 99-98 win over Rain or Shine, one which saw the Llamados rallied from a deficit as high as 48-65 in the third period.
Peter June Simon banked in the game-winning shot in the final 21.7 seconds of the ball game, before the Llamados watched in delight as Elasto Painters import Arizona Reid missed on a potential winning basket in the waning seconds.
The Llamados tied the Alaska Aces at 5-4 following the come-from-behind win.
Reid’s personal-conference high of 41 points were put to naught following the loss, Rain or Shine’s third straight for a 4-5 (win-loss) slate overall.
Like Rain or Shine, B-Meg will also have to contend with another prolific import in Ginebra’s Donald Sloan.
Sloan exploded for 32 points in the Kings’98-90 win over the Elasto Painters during the final day of the eliminations.
The Kings, playing their first game in the semis, are currently tied with Petron for second place with similar 5-3 cards.
Coach Jong Uichico is keeping his fingers crossed Sloan will continue to blend with the team as the semifinal phase progresses.
“Our goal is to still get Sloan accustomed to our system for us to have better chemistry,” said Uichico. “Until now, we’re adjusting. All of the games here in the semi-finals are important. You can call it no-tomorrow games.”
Gallent definitely agrees.
“We just have to save our legs and play as hard as we played yesterday (Friday) against Ginebra,” he said. (GR)
source
PBA
No comments:
Post a Comment