A match that could be a preview of the title playoffs comes early when San Miguel and Barangay Ginebra clash on Friday in the PBA Philippine Cup.
For Jorge Gallent and Tim Cone, the battle of sister teams at 7:30 p.m. at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum serves as a perfect gauge of their true form in the all-Filipino conference.
San Miguel is currently on top of the team standings with a 3-0 record, but is now set to face the same opponent it swept in the last Commissioner’s Cup best-of-five semifinals with Bennie Boatwright as its reinforcement.
In a conference without imports, the Beermen will look to replicate the feat, at least in the eliminations. But even with a perfect record so far, Gallent knows that if there is a team can beat them, it’s the Gin Kings.
“Ginebra is one of the toughest teams here,” said Gallent. “We just have to prepare for them, and then we have to be consistent and we have to give our 48 minutes of energy for us to have a chance of beating them.”
Ginebra, meanwhile, has been off and on in the absence of Scottie Thompson, but the San Miguel match could also be a measure on how well the team can be without the former MVP.
But Cone said this San Miguel team will be tough to beat.
“Right now, San Miguel is playing at a level where that they don’t look like they are beatable,” said Cone. “But, we will see what we can do.”
San Miguel defeated Phoenix, 116-102, on Easter Sunday in a game where the team, according to Gallent, wasn’t able to fully prepare due to the All-Star Weekend where most of their players were in Bacolod.
“We were having a hard time [during the All-Star break] because the guys that stayed [behind], they were only four. They just lifted weights and made their skill work. We practiced as a team Tuesday lang, and then we have to [go on a] break on Friday because we really don’t practice on Good Friday… coming to Friday’s game, we will be ready against Ginebra,” said Gallent.
Ginebra beat Magnolia, 87-77, to get back on track after a 91-73 loss to Meralco where Cone felt the team played out of character.
“The game was truly an effort game for us. It wasn’t pretty," he said. "It was real effort on defense. We hit the boards hard, we got back (on defense) well. Effort things came out especially in the second half. That’s going to give us a lift going into the San Miguel game."
