The Ginebra Kings have booked their ticket to the 2019 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup semifinals after sweeping Magnolia in the quarterfinals, and obtaining a 26-point victory for Game Two last Tuesday, July 23 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Justin Brownlee guided his team had a huge performance with 30 points nine rebounds, six assists, and four steals, playing a major part in his teams 41-20 run in the third quarter where they sealed their double-digit lead. Japeth Aguilar and LA Tenorio also reigned successful, chipping 18 and 13 points respectively. Mark Caguioa only played 13 minutes throughout the game but totalled 12 points off the bench.
As for Magnolia, who is suffering from their sixth straight loss in the season, Mark Barroca and new import Rakeem Christmas led the way with 17 and 15 points respectively. Ian Sanagalang was the only other player who totalled double-digits at 12 points.
Kings’ head coach Tim Cone stated that their victory “is a big surprise,” revealing, “We didn’t expect this. We were really determined tonight because we came out and not played well in Game Two in the last couple of conferences against this team. It was really on us to come out and change the narrative and make it different.”
He continued to share, “Even though we fell behind in the first minute or two, I saw the intensity of the players and I was confident that we will put on a good game tonight. I didn’t expect it to be this good but I expected us to play a good game tonight.”
The Ginebra Kings will have a small break before their next match, as they are waiting for the winner of the decider between the number one-seeded team Talk N’ Text and the number eight-seeded team Alaska on Wednesday, July 24 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, who they will eventually be facing in a best-of-five series for the next round.