Ginebra drew big games from their two spitfire guards to level their PBA Governors’ Cup Finals with the TNT Tropang Giga at two wins apiece.
On a team driven by the star power of Scottie, Justin and Japeth, it was an unlikely pair that stole the spotlight on Sunday night in Game 4 of the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup Finals.
Welcome to the Stephen and Mav show.
Stephen Holt and Maverick Ahanmisi, who are relative newcomers to Barangay Ginebra, scored 18 points each and hit some pretty big shots in the fourth quarter of a decisive 106-92 win over the TNT Tropang Giga that knotted up the best-of-seen finals at 2-2.
Ginebra’s offense breaks through
This win was important, and not just because of the breakout games of Holt and Ahanmisi. It’s the first time in the series that the Gin Kings hit their conference average in points after being held to 85.7ppg in the first three games.
“This is the finals,” noted Ginebra coach Tim Cone. “It’s going to be a tough road offensively, always in the finals. Everybody wants to win so badly that it’s never just about making shots. It’s always about how much guys are going to defend and rebound and hustle. And that’s what we’ve been able to do these last two games.
“In terms of our offense, we just kept making big shots when we needed to. And we’ve been doing that pretty much all conference long. You know, it just seems like when a team is starting to make a run at us, somebody hits a big shot.
“Stephen was the one making those big shots. Maverick hit that big four. Justin had one.”
With regard to Ahanmisi, Cone was referring to a huge four-point shot that the guard buried with the shot clock winding down to put Ginebra up 101-90 and all but kill TNT’s hopes of coming back.
Holt’s performance, though, was impressive as he not only had to put points on the board, but he also had the unenviable task of guarding Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who was named Best Import right before top-off.
“Like we keep saying, Rondae is special and he creates so much havoc on the floor, defensively, on the boards,” Cone said. “But he also creates a lot of shots for his teammates.
“And I think the biggest key tonight was, and it has been the last two games, it’s this guy right next to me (Holt) and the defense he’s been able to play over the last two games. And as amazing as Rondae is, Stephen’s doing an amazing job as well. So this has been one of the huge keys of why we’re back in this series.”
Even TNT coach Chot Reyes couldn’t help but tip his hat to the two Ginebra guards.
“Holt is defending Rondae the whole game and he’s still scoring. And Mav Ahanmisi. We know Brownlee, Scottie, Japeth. But the game of the two guys, they’re really giving us a lot of problems. So we have to find a solution to that. Unbelievable. My hat’s off to Mav and Stephen.”
Holt, who goes there?
Holt was the top draft pick last year, and he’s now showing on both ends of the floor why he was such a coveted player. Aside from his offensive outburst, he had a game-high five steals.
“That’s just been the biggest challenge for me in this series is obviously it takes a lot of energy on the defensive end, mentally and physically, just to lock in on that matchup individually, one-on-one defense, but also within the team scheme,” he said.
“And so that’s kind of taken away a little bit of my aggressiveness offensively. The first three games, I passed up open shots that I know I needed to shoot. And today, I didn’t want to pass plenty of those shots. I was able to make some big-time shots. My teammates found me when they needed to. And I did my job and was able to be more aggressive and put more points, like you said, in this game.”
Hollis-Jefferson still got loose for 28 points, but Holt made him work for his output.
“We made that adjustment in Game 3 for me to try and just get loose and try and make it difficult for Rondae. I know I’m called an import stopper, but we’re not really stopping him. We’re just trying to make it difficult. And so we’ve done a great job these last two games. And so we just got to do it for two more.”
What made Holt’s performance more impressive was the fact that he had been feeling under the weather all week.
“At the end of the day, just my competitive spirit. I know at the end of the day, I just got to continue to show leadership, continue to lead my guys on the defensive end. Don’t get discouraged when Rondae hits a tough shot. Obviously, he started the game hot in some threes. We can never put our heads down at all.”
Down to a best-of-three
Game 5 is on Wednesday, and with the series essentially now down to a best-of-three, both coaches know the importance of momentum swings. Cone knows they have to keep it, while Reyes wants it back.
“Oh, definitely, they have the momentum,” Reyes said. “But it’s the same thing with us. We had the momentum after two games, and now it’s shifted. Their five guys combined (for) 100 points. They’re really finding their groove and they’re really executing their offense well, so it’s incumbent upon us to be able to play better defense.
“We need some of our other guys, especially our bench, to step up and hope that we can play better defense and still have a chance in this series. But it’s 2-all. If you asked me at the start of the series and it’s 2-all, I’ll say I’ll take it. So we’re best-of-three. We’re now in 0-0 best-of-three.”
“All we did was tie the series,” Cone noted. “It’s 0-0. It’s the best-of-three. We can’t live off the last two games and just feel good about that. We gotta keep forward moving, forward-thinking. And so that’s what we’ll be doing over the next two days, trying to get forward thinking.”
Images from PBA Media Bureau.