Barangay Ginebra San Miguel would need to play with a sense of urgency to snap out of a dangerous slump midway through the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup.
After a 3-1 start, the Gin Kings suddenly found themselves reeling from back-to-back losses that pulled them down at the middle of the pack tied with skidding Blackwater and an inconsistent TNT.
“We have that sense of urgency already, especially coming in the middle of the conference. You can’t afford to make back-to-back losses again,” Ginebra veteran guard LA Tenorio said.
Their last two games saw the Gin Kings play catch-up as they went down by double digits early before mounting a comeback attempt only to lose steam in the end.
The never-say-die spirit could only do so much.
Such was the case when Ginebra got clobbered by a younger Terrafirma side, 85-91, last Sunday just two nights after bowing down to unbeaten San Miguel Beer, 92-95.
“I think the problem really is we can’t set the tone from the start. We have to start really well,” Tenorio said.
“Obviously, we’re starting really well in our wins. And in our losses, we always start the game really flat.”
While falling short against the Beermen was painful, getting beat by the Dyip for the first time in three years left a bad taste in the mouth for Ginebra.
It was just Terrafirma’s second win over the Gin Kings in 23 meetings and first since 2021 in the same All-Filipino Conference.
Head coach Tim Cone was so upset with his team, that he spent most of the second half sitting on the bench and let assistant coach Richard Del Rosario call the shots.
“It’s hard to play catch-up basketball,” Tenorio said.
But while Ginebra has already identified the culprit in its current slide, the team will need to make the necessary adjustments to address the problem.
“Every team playing against us, they’re going to play their best game and we really have to be ready for that from the start. So setting the tone from the start of the game is really important,” Tenorio said.
The Gin Kings have enough time to plot a game plan to get back on the right track against Blackwater on Friday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
