Stanley Pringle has been in the PBA for half a decade now, but the Fil-Am guard has yet to vie for a championship.
That’s about to change now, though. On Friday evening, Pringle and Barangay Ginebra eliminated NorthPort in the semis’ Game Four, becoming the first team to head to the 2019 Governors’ Cup Finals.
For the league’s reigning scoring champion, playing in his first PBA Finals definitely means a lot to him.
“It’s really big,” said Pringle, who won the National Invitation Tournament title with Penn State in 2009; then an ASEAN Basketball League crown with the Indonesia Warriors in 2012.
“It’s my first finals appearance. I’ve played on big stages before, so I’ll give everything I have.”
Pringle was solid in the semis versus his former team, averaging 19.0 points, including 18 markers in Game Four. For him, it is something that he can carry over to the Finals that starts January 8.
But sustaining that rhythm is a challenge in itself for Pringle, especially now that the league heads into a two-week holiday break. With that, he will be looking for ways on how to keep fit.
“It’s definitely good, but as I said, I’m thinking about my rhythm,” he said. “They had a break, and luckily for me, I was playing with Gilas. That kept my rhythm going. Right now, I don’t know.
“Maybe coach’s gonna schedule some tune-up games or something, but that’s the biggest thing, to keep your game rhythm. I’m gonna try to find new ways to keep my rhythm.”
Asked about his expectations for the best-of-seven championship series against either the TNT KaTropa or the Meralco Bolts, Pringle simply expects Ginebra to be at full strength.
“Definitely first, try to get our legs back as soon as possible. We got a little break. Coach [Tim Cone] wants us to hurry up and try to recover from the little injuries that we have,” he said.
“I’ve got little injuries … I think that would be the perfect amount of time, to get my knee back. I expect everybody to be healthy and ready to go. It should be a really exciting finals.”
