Jeff Chan provided the spark Ginebra badly needed in its all-important clash with Rain or Shine in the PBA Governors’ Cup, Sunday night.
The lefty sniper showed once more why he should still be dreaded even at age 39. He rifled 15 points on a 4-of-7 clip from beyond the arc, helping the Barangay pull away late to the 104-93 victory to enter the quarterfinals.
“You can’t really say nothing about Jeff today,” praised head coach Tim Cone of his veteran guard after the match at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
It has truly been a while since Chan played this well. In fact, he was just averaging 2.3 points prior to facing his former team Elasto Painters.
Wondering when was the last time he scored in double figures? It was in a 112-100 win over NorthPort on November 4, 2020, in a Philippine Cup duel in the Clark bubble. There, he had 10 points in a balanced attack.
Cone couldn’t be any more satisfied to see Chan take a role that many other Gin Kings have tried to do while filling in the holes left by other vets such as Stanley Pringle and Jared Dillinger, both of whpm are out due to injuries.
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“We’ve been searching for that guy… Arvin has made an effort to do it, Sidney has made an effort to do it, normally it would be Stanley that’s there. That would normally be Jared or Aljon in that fifth position,” he said.
“Nards has done a commendable job, but we haven’t had anybody just really take hold of that fifth guy on the floor. Tonight, Jeff din. Jeff grabbed it and kept it,” the league’s only 23-time champion mentor added.
That was evident down the stretch. Chan was actually the one who tied the game at 89-all through a triple with 6:59 to go, a shot that helped construct Ginebra’s telling 15-0 run that gave them a 97-89 lead with 3:05 left.
The Far Eastern University product also had a hand in applying the finishing touches, hitting another trey for a 101-91 lead, 2:01 to play.
“He played well on both sides of the floor, hit some big shots for us. And if he can do that, he opens up things for everybody else,” Cone said.
Cone hopes that young guys like Arvin Tolentino could learn a thing or two from Chan, who also had six rebounds in his 26-minute outing.
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“That’s what we’re looking for from Arvin but Arvin is still a young guy. He’s still, I think, feeling the pressure,” he opined.
“He’s not playing free and easy and we need him to play a little bit more free and easy and we need him to take a page from Jeff because he is the heir apparent of Jeff Chan on this team,” he furthered.
Chan, for his part, was just glad that the defending champions came away with the much-needed victory, adding that games as tight as that are beneficial in preparing themselves for the quarterfinals ahead.
“Mas magandang trial sa’min ‘to going into the playoffs. Mas mahirap, mas maganda para mas maging ready kami going into the playoffs,” he said.
“Medyo nakahabol sila ng second half, pero hindi kami nag-give up. Never say die nga, ‘di ba?”
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