The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is scheduled for a head-to-head game against the Purefoods-Star Hotshots at 6:45 P.M. on April 9, 2017 in Mall of Asia Arena.
It’s the second conference episode for the Manila Clasico which features the Hotshots and Gin Kings.
Star is looking to extend its winning streak to five while Ginebra is searching for a back-to-back victories.
Justin Brownlee had a fantastic game in their last assignment. He started slow on scoring against GlobalPort but exploded in the third quarter with 20 big points.
In that process, Ginebra erased a 13-point lead of Batang Pier and made its own. The “Never-Say-Die” team piled up a lead as high as 17 points in the second half.
Despite of the win, still seasoned coach Tim Cone isn’t fully impressed how his team performs in its last two games.
“It looks like we had a championship hangover without winning a championship, which is really bad. It’s disappointing,” Cone told sportswriters.
Apart from NLEX, Star is currently dominating their opponent with an average of 19 points advantage. This is how good the Hotshots this 2017 PBA Commissioner’s Cup and the reason why they enjoyed a 4-0 start.
Star’s offense is unpredictable, the opposing teams won’t know which player to clamp down as almost all of them is a threat.
In their last game, six Hotshots scored in double digits. If we round-off the nine points of Allein Maliksi then it’ll make a total of seven.
This puts concern to coach Tim Cone and challenged his players.
“As I tell our players, if you can’t get up for the Manila Classico, then you need to choose a different profession,” Cone said.
“Star is on a roll and playing at a very high level. It will be on us to figure out a way to halt their momentum. Hopefully, by this time, we’re starting to get our rhythm,” he added.