Japeth Aguilar put the exclamation point in Ginebra’s upset of the twice-to-beat TNT in the 2021-22 PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinals, Saturday night.
With 2:42 remaining and with the game all but settled, the 6-foot-9 forward flashed from the left baseline and caught the lob of Scottie Thompson for an emphatic two-handed alley-oop, making the Barangay roar even louder.
That dunk not only served as the cherry on top of their 115-95 win, but was also a perfect way to cap off what had been an exceptional night for him.
Photo by PBA Images
Aguilar turned in easily his best game of the conference with 26 points on 11-of-14 shooting from the field, alongside seven rebounds and two blocks.
Sure, that highlight-worthy play has made rounds online, but it was really the way he shot the ball that left head coach Tim Cone in awe.
Aside from his point-blank shots, the 35-year-old showed that he can pull the trigger from midrange and hit it consistently. And a jumper from the top of they key, like what he did with 5:01 left to play, struck his mentor the most.
“Japeth was knocking down shots. Reminded me of his dad Peter,” said the 23-time champion tactician after the match at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Cone had previously said that the Gilas pioneer shoots the same way as his father Peter, someone that he knows of so well since he coached him in Alaska. Together, they won the 1991 Third Conference championship.
“Taking those jump shots from the top of the key, that’s what Peter Aguilar would do all the time when he was playing for Alaska,” he recalled.
Aguilar’s shooting display was also a microcosm of how the Barangay shot collectively. It made 54-percent of its shots, including 40 from deep.
“Everybody was hitting shots tonight,” lauded Cone.
“So that made the game a lot easier when you’re making shots.”
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