The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel have been defined by one word in the 2017 Governor’s Cup: size
The Gin Kings have now become the league’s hottest team in the season-ending conference — and it’s all thanks to the way they have been imposing their towering presence over opposing teams.
On Wednesday night, the Barangay collected their fifth straight victory versus the slumping Phoenix Fuel Masters. As usual, their height and might played a huge factor, leaving their counterparts with no answers.
Ginebra posted norms of 54 rebounds in their first four wins. But against the Fuel Masters, they asserted supremacy on the boards, tallying a whopping 76 rebounds — notches higher than Phoenix’s 47 caroms.
And for big man Greg Slaughter, who made his presence felt in the streak-stretching victory with 14 points and 11 rebounds, their extremely commendable effort on the glass is what made the huge difference.
“Definitely. Rebounds gave us the win,” said the seven-foot Cebuano after their 105-92 win at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“Our assists were down, and our turnovers were up. At least we were able to get the rebounds.
“This is a really great game for us,” added Slaughter, despite his team dishing out just 23 assists — already a low output by the Gin Kings’ standards — and committing 22 turnovers, three more than Phoenix’s errors.
There’s no denying that the Barangay are playing their best right now. And for the 29-year-old, it will always be credited to the way they control the boards, just like what they did against the now-2-7 Fuel Masters.
“I think we’re just playing pretty good. We found our rhythm. Our assists have been high… We kinda took a little dip today, but we made up for it in the rebounds,” said the Ohio-born center.v
