HEADLINE: Beermen bank on King to kick off Govs’ Cup campaign in style
ANTIPOLO — Is George King the answer?
San Miguel sure hopes so and the traditional powerhouse could test out that theory when they commence their PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup campaign against guest team Macau later tonight at the Ynares Center here.
Game time is at 7:30, with the Beermen looking to get off on the right foot this time after starting out flat during the first two conferences this season—they went 0-2 to open the Philippine Cup and then 1-2 in the Commissioner’s Cup.
That up-and-down start to the midseason tourney was due to their import woes, which proved to be a problem that lasted all throughout the tilt and took its toll on them when they bombed out of the quarterfinals versus Rain or Shine.
In fact, they switched reinforcements twice and ended up with naturalization candidate Bennie Boatwright in a bid to lean on familiarity, but their championship experience together wasn’t enough to save their campaign.
Now they brought in King, a super scorer that shall provide a shot in the arm specifically in the wing position after proving his worth with Blackwater last season, highlighted by a 64-point outing in a win against the Elasto Painters.
But of course, fans and observers alike would like to see in person how he would be able to find his niche with this stacked team, which features other potent scorers led by nine-time MVP June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez.
Then there’s also the intriguing Jerrick Ahanmisi, who will make his debut later together with Paolo Hernandez after they were traded by Terrafirma in exchange for guard Juami Tiongson and the seldom-used Chris Miller last June,
It could potentially be a match made in heaven, too, as both camps have been hoping to strike success in this very conference—King aims for a breakthrough playoff appearance, while SMB hopes to end an 11-year title drought.
And they all could start working on their dreams collectively against the Giant Pandas, who hardly showed any improvement from their maiden campaign last Commissioner’s Cup after getting blasted by Jimmy Alapag’s NLEX, 114-75.
The Road Warriors have since gone 2-0 since that impressive debut and they will definitely try to make it three in a row when the Group A leaders take on another doormat team in Titan Ultra in the 5:15 p.m. double-header opener.
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Robert Bolick and his squad, though, are coming in a wary bunch after nearly collapsing against Terrafirma the last time out in Montalban, in which they blew a 23-point lead but were lucky enough to escape with the 101-100 result.
Needless to say, they wouldn’t want that to happen against the Giant Risers, who are hoping to barge into the win column after losing to the Dyip and then to Converge, in which they got dealt with a humiliating 105-74 beatdown.
Both those losses were mainly because the team didn’t have an import available but there’s some renewed hope within them with the arrival of Tirrell Brown, who’s been cleared to play and is therefore eligible to suit up later.
