The San Miguel Beermen were supposed to be invulnerable this season. Besides having the fantastic five of June Mar Fajardo, Arwind Santos, Alex Cabagnot, Marcio Lassiter, and Chris Ross, they had added Renaldo Balkman and Christian Standhardinger to the mix.
But the Barangay Ginebra Kings proved that the Beermen are just mortals. And all they needed was a complete team.
“It was tough in 2016 when I tore my ACL, I missed a lot of opportunities. We played San Miguel in the finals and we weren’t able to beat them when I was out,” Slaughter recalled about the 2016 Philippine Cup Finals that saw Ginebra lose in five games.
With a complete lineup, the Gin Kings were able to dethrone the Beermen in six games, with three of their wins coming by way of double-digit routs. And it’s all because they had a big man who has the ability to defend the seven-time Best Player of the Conference Fajardo.
“I think the guy that we didn’t really give a lot of credit to – well we did, but maybe not enough – was Greg Slaughter. And the energy that he played throughout the whole series against June Mar,” Cone remarked about Slaughter, who averaged 13.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game this series.
“He was the difference-maker for us because he was the one guy that made them change the way they play.”
“Oh man you know, I think, this is the best one yet,” added the 30-year-old big man, who was born in Cleveland, Ohio. “You know, right now, I’m on cloud nine, it’s kinda surreal at the moment but after such a long conference start 1-and-5 to be here it’s very fulfilling.”
Now that they have ended San Miguel’s Finals streak, the 7-foot behemoth believes that he and the Gin Kings are starting to carve their own path to greatness.
“That’s what were working for, we won back-to-back Governors’ Cup and we’re a confident team and we think we should be up there with the rest of them,” the five-year pro pointed out.
“This is what we play for as championships and we just got this one and we’ll stay humble and working to defend our Governors’ Cup champion next conference.”
