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MANILA, Philippines – Barangay Geneva head coach Tim Cone was pleased with the character displayed by the Gin Kings in their game against NorthPort Batang Pier on Wednesday night, although he acknowledged it was far from his best performance.
The Gin Kings were playing in the second game of a back-to-back, after beating the Alaska Aces 87-81 on Wednesday night. Against the Batang pier, they had to endure a rain of triples before claiming a 112-100 victory.
Geneva was the only team to win the second game from a back-to-back, as TNT and Blackwater lost their assignments on Wednesday after also playing the day before.
“You know, in the NBA you talk about back-to-back games, and how everyone dreads back-to-back games and it’s very difficult to have a winning record in your second back-to-back game,” Cone said. After the match. “When you do it, it’s a real compliment to your team.”
“So right now, you know, we’re happy. I’m happy for our character. Not happy for the execution, but I’m happy for our character tonight.”
Although they won the game, Cone noted that the effects of the busy schedule were clear on his team. He appeared particularly on the defensive side, where the Gin Kings made mistakes that were rare for them.
“Tonight was not our best moment,” Cone admitted. “We weren’t, you know, clean tonight, we weren’t sharp tonight.”
“I am very proud of our guys for the effort they put in tonight … they weren’t frustrated, they showed a lot of character playing tonight.” “Having said all that, as proud as I am, there are many things that we still need to improve and improve.”
They marked an item on their to-do list by forcing NorthPort’s Christian Standhardinger to make an inefficient start, as center Fil-German had 23 points on 10 of 19 shooting, along with 11 rebounds.
However, the Batang Pier shooters were not followed and Geneva allowed 17 triples. Kevin Ferrer only made seven triples and Garvo Lanete added five. It was rookie guard Renzo Subido’s shot that caught the Gin Kings off guard, most of all.
“The guy who really surprised us was Subido. Subido played a great basketball game and we didn’t give him the respect that we should have given him,” Cone said. “I thought we did a good job controlling Christian, and that was really our key.”
“Tonight we came up with a more specific game plan in terms of stopping Standhardinger. And since we were doing that, we were trying to collapse on him, we often left the shooters open. And Kevin came out shooting, which we know he can, and Lanete came out shooting, Subido came out shooting. And so they took 17 triples, “he added.
Fortunately for Guinevere, his offense came to the fore even as his defense was a slow pace. They dissected the NorthPort zone with their passes and finished the game with 37 assists on 46 baskets made.
Eight Geneva players hit double digits as the Batang pier struggled to react to their ball and the movement of the players. With NorthPort putting up a token defense on the inside, the Gin Kings scored 50 points inside the paint.
“The zone has to do with the movement of the ball and the shots that come your way. I think everyone got involved, because we were making multiple passes. After the first quarter, we started cutting the zone, cutting the zone, and that it opened things up, “Geneva said. “We are a difficult team to zone.”
“Our offense was good enough tonight to help our defense. Usually it’s the other way around. Usually our defense helps our offense. Tonight, our offense helped our defense,” he also said.
