Beaten soundly by reigning three-time Philippine Cup champions San Miguel Beermen, the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings return to the Mall of Asia Arena on Saturday and resume their top four aspirations in the Oppo PBA Governors Cup.
They will face the unpredictable Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the main game at 5:15 p.m.
The Gin Kings saw their seven-game winning streak snapped by the Beermen a few days ago and multi-titled coach Tim Cone is hoping the game could serve as a wake up call for them.
“After the beat down that SMB gave us, needless to say, this is an important bounce back game for us,” Cone told InterAksyon.
“Hopefully that was a wake-up call for us. We really need to re-establish our discipline towards our defense and the tempo in which we play. We lost that against SMB and need to recover it in time for the playoffs.”
The Gin Kings will face an Elasto Painters squad, whose own winning streak were snapped by the Beermen last week before getting back on track following a bounce back victory over Phoenix at the Ynares Center in Antipolo Wednesday.
For Cone, Ginebra’s level of game went down even before their much-awaited match against the Beermen.
“I think we were not playing the kind of game that we played. Even our game against Blackwater, I felt our level of play went down,” said Cone.
“We’re not getting the same ball movement, the same open looks. I think we’re not as good defensively like we were three games ago. But it’s hard to sustain your habits through a long winning streak. It’s a natural reaction that you’ll relax a little bit. It’s human nature. We’re battling our human nature right now. So, we’re not playing our best level now, but we have somewhere to go.”
