The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is scheduled for a head-to-head game against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters at 6:45 PM on February 5, 2023 live from the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Metro Manila.
Note: Livestream starts at 6:45 PM, refresh this page to watch the live game at the mentioned game time.
The Gin Kings will officially make their debut for this year’s version of the Governors’ Cup as well as to defend their title while the Elasto Painters wanted to take advantage of the two games they already have against the legs of their opponent that may still need a warm-up to find their right footings in the ongoing tournament.
In just under a month after their historic battle against Hong Kong-based squad in the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals that reached its sudden-death point, Ginebra is back as the defending champion of the PBA third conference. This is the part of the season that they dominated during the Tim Cone and Justin Brownlee where they’re 4-0 in the championship round.
The entire core of the “Never-Say-Die” team is fully intact and there’s one key addition that they don’t have last year which made them more deadly in their latest campaign. His name is Jamie Malonzo he is one of the Best Player of the Conference runner-ups in the just concluded tournament.
This conference could be also the dress rehearsal for the “Barangay” in preparation for the 48th PBA Season. Though it’s still early to mention this yet that’s the one accolade that head coach Tim Cone needs to bring to Ginebra to complete another major milestone on his already glittering PBA career.
For Rain or Shine on the other hand, similar to the last conference, once again they’ll be facing Ginebra in their first outing where they won in a lopsided victory, 93-71. Yet, if you ask ROS head coach Yeng Guiao, making a repeat looks very challenging knowing that the morale of the Gin Kings troops is through the roof at the moment.
The area that coach Guiao wanted to use to their advantage is to test how prepared Ginebra was in their first game especially since they’re coming from a tough Game 7 battle.
“‘Yun din nangyari last conference,” said Guiao. “Baka hindi sila ganun kahanda pa. Pero it’s hard to do that twice in a row. Lamang na lamang pa rin ang Ginebra especially with the way we are playing.”
Likewise, there are certain areas the Elasto Painters need to address now that they’re 0-3 in the standings.
“It’s a tough match-up for us on Sunday… First of all, we need to lift our morale. Mahirap coming back from 0-3. Second is to find a way to stop Ginebra. The way they are playing, the way Brownlee is playing, the way Scottie and sina Malonzo, they’ve become bigger and deeper. They have better chemistry and that’s what you get playing in a seven-game series. Mahirap ‘yung Sunday game namin,” said Guiao.
For sure, coach Guiao uses data and his observation during the game to aid his strategies to win matches. Probably he made an assessment that there’s more upside to their opponent, his last resort for things to turn around in their favor is some divine intervention.
“Milagro siguro. Pero nangyayari naman ang milagro,” said Guiao on how they will be able the Gin Kings.