The reigning PBA Most Valuable Player, Scottie Thompson ignited Barangay Ginebra’s offense and logged their first victory in this 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
Right off the get-go, the pride of Digos City wasted no time and started the run of the Gin Kings and surprised their opponent, their rival the Meralco Bolts.
Thompson bounced back from his shooting struggle when they last faced the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters a few days ago. His 0-of-4 and 1-point performance is now just a fragment of imagination as he replaced it with almost a triple-double output with 15 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists. He now gave justice to his new jersey number after he switched from number 6 to number 9.
“Kami yung naging aggressive from the start to finish,” Thompson said. “We want to be more aggressive both in offense and defense, yun nag come-up as a win so good for us,” he added.
Not only the 6-foot-1 high leaper had stellar output in tonight’s outing. Their balik-import Justin Brownlee also had his own version of a good contribution where he made 34 points and drew 12 personal fouls from the Bolts.
The majority of Ginebra’s offense came from its starters where all of the first-five players logged at least 10 points. Christian Standhardinger who plays as their sixth man also added 10 points and four rebounds.
Definitely, their game opener against the RoS was their wake-up call, and seems like it’s good for them in order to build momentum moving forward.
“Good is not good enough for us. We gotta play great every night because we know the other teams will play great against Ginebra,” said Cone.
Without Chris Newsome on their lineup due to his calf injury, the offensive struggles of coach Norman Black continue. Though they found their needed scoring support from Allein Maliksi and Aaron Black who delivered 20 and 14 points respectively but still not enough for them to stop absorbing back-to-back defeats.
Bolts’ import Johnny O’Bryant had a superb performance with 31 points and 16 rebounds yet his inside presence which coach Black is expecting may need more boost as the franchise still not getting good results which are piling wins.
Ginebra vs Meralco Box Score
Gin Kings (99) – Malonzo 10, Thompson 15, Pringle 16, Aguilar 10, Brownlee 34, Tenorio 4, Standhardinger 10
Bolts (91) – Black 14, Hodge 2, O’Bryant 31, Quinto 3, Maliksi 20, Banchero 2, Almazan 10, Pasaol 9