It has been well-documented that Ginebra’s crowd adds another dimension to games. A game held in neutral grounds turns into an immediate road game every time one faces the Barangay.
And it once again played a factor on Sunday evening at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
The TNT Katropa were able to go toe-to-toe with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, gaining a 61-55 lead during the halftime break. Moreover, TNT were able to silence the Ginebra faithful. However, there was one play during the first half that sparked the Barangay.
With just three minutes left in the first half, Ginebra was down 46-50. Needing a spark to light up the crowd, Japeth Aguilar soared to the sky then slammed it down on Troy Rosario to send the crowd into a frenzy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2hzsmnp7bU
That lone play helped Ginebra and their faithful gain momentum.
With crowd pushing the Gin Kings in the second half, TNT played into Ginebra’s pace as they tried to answer booming triples from LA Tenorio and Justin Brownlee with their own. However, it was a trap, as Ginebra were able to cruise to a 107-89 win, snapping TNT’s winning streak at five.
“We, as a team, kind of played with the crowd. You can’t do that against Ginebra,” rued TNT head coach Nash Racela.
TNT reinforcement Donte Greene, who has NBA experience, was also affected. After scoring 17 points in the first quarter alone, he was limited to 11 points the rest of the way.
“[It is] also something Donte will learn from. This is the first time he played in a big crowd,” Racela added.
Aside from the crowd, Ginebra’s defense also made it hard for the Katropa, forcing them to shoot just 39 percent. And serving as Ginebra’s defensive anchor was Aguilar, who had a game-high five swats.
“It’s all because of the way Ginebra defended us. Maganda rin talaga yung defense nila,” the former Far Eastern University Tamaraws mentor credited.
“Japeth had a lot of blocks, so maganda yung scheme nila.
“And yung decision-making namin wasn’t really that good — we were still forcing shots against their bigger players, so [it’s] something that we need to adjust so we can get better next time,” the 45-year-old tactician added.
Losing by a huge margin and seeing their streak snapped made it a heartbreaking Sunday night for the Katropa, but Racela has no qualms about it. TNT is now 5-2, and one more win will catapult them to the quarterfinals, after all.
“Everything comes to an end,” Racela quipped with a slight grin.
“Okay lang. ‘Di lang maganda how we lost today.”
– Justine Bacnis and Matthew Li
