On Sunday evening, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel headed into their 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup meeting with rivals Meralco Bolts riding a blazing four-game winning streak.
But all good things come to an end, as they say.
The Gin Kings were far from the squad that won four straight matches. They were beaten down by the do-it-all Allen Durham and the Orangemen by a whopping 24 points, 77-102.
“Sometimes you get overconfident and you tend to relax when you have a winning streak,” admitted Justin Brownlee, who only had 18 in the loss.
“But I just wanna give a lot of credit to Meralco.”
“They beat us black and blue, and they beat us at all phases of the game tonight,” rued coach Tim Cone.
“We came into the game playing on our reputation and didn’t put the work in.”
The loss stings plenty for the crowd darlings.
Not only did it end their winning run, it also dropped them to fourth in the standing. They are now level with another 5-3 team San Miguel Beermen, whom they beat last October 13.
A win in their next game will put them on track of being inside the Top Four. which merits a twice-to-beat edge in the quarters. It won’t be easy, though, as they will face the 7-1 TNT KaTropa on Friday.
So now, the challenge is on for the crowd darlings.
“That’s what we’re gunning for, that’s our mission — to get to the Top Four,” Brownlee, a three-time PBA champion, said. “Just try to do whatever we can to get a Top Four finish.
“We got some tough opponents coming up. Hopefully, we can close out with some wins and try to create some momentum for the playoffs.”
