Hot shots Ginebra Kings dissolve Singapore Slingers 77-72 in third pre-season match

Story by Erwin Wong, Jan Lin and Koh Yizhe. Photos by Lai Jun Wei and Vanessa Lim.

Singapore Indoor Stadium, Wednesday, September 30, 2009 – This time, there would be no 32-point drubbing. Or a Singapore Slingers win, for that matter. Instead, the home team was dismantled in their nest.

Mark ‘The Spark’ Caguioa, who is still nursing an injury, poured in 10 of his 24 points in a final-quarter run to lead the Barangay Ginebra Kings to a 77-72 win over the Singapore Slingers in the third Challenge Series match. The series is a pre-season tune up for the inaugural ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) tipping off on October 11th.

The Slingers had blown the Kings out in their previous meeting here earlier this year in January, but the outcome was much closer this time round despite the Kings missing their reigning PBA Most Valued Player, Anthony Jason James Helterbrand (known better as JJ Helterbrand).

“It was a totally different game in January,” explained Kings’ small forward William Wilson. “We are definitely more in shape for this game than we were in January, as the new season is just around the corner.” The PBA season runs from October to February each year.

A minute of silence was observed for the victims of the tsunami in Samoa and Tonga, as well as the flood victims in the Philippines before the third match of the pre-season game which tipped off to an exuberant crowd of Filipino fans. The Ginebra Kings is the most popular team in the Philippines.

The absence of JJ Helterbrand in Singapore was therefore disappointing for the Filipino fans. A member of the the Ginebra coaching staff let out that Helterbrand is still in the States, as his hamstring was hurting at the last conference. Helterbrand was asked to “get a lot of rest” and will be coming back this week to join the Kings for practices.

The top scorer of the game, Mark Caguioa, is also still recovering from an injury, and he has only started practising again 2 months ago.

“Mark is not in 100% shape,” revealed assistant coach Juno Sauler, “but he's getting there, probably around 80% now. So hopefully when season starts, he will get to around 85-90% and when it gets to the elimination phase, he will be at 100% again.”

Yet despite Ginbera’s handicapped status, the home team failed to convert what could have been an ego-boosting win, which was much needed to go into the inaugural ABL season tipping off next week.

The hosts led by six at half-time, with Michael Leblanc and Kyle Jeffers chipping in with 14 and 10 points respectively, and held leads of six and seven in the subsequent two quarters, but the visitors stormed back into the game each time, culminating in their huge fourth-quarter run.

The Slingers led 65-58 before a Caguioa three-pointer sparked the famed Ginebra comeback trail. Ronald Tubid, Enrico Villaneuva and Caguioa all contributed to the massive 15-0 run which turned the tables on the Slingers for good.

"Like when we are in Manila, our strategy is always to play an up-tempo game,” revealed another of Ginebra’s assistant coach, Allan Caidic.

Caidic went on to elaborate: “We wanted to concentrate on our fast-breaks and every opportunity we had to try to push the ball, we try to take advantage of that one. We are known for that in the Philippines.”

"Our defense was the key to our victory,” said the 29-year-old William Wilson, who had four points to his name in this game. “It was our defense down stretch, and we were able to adjust to the style of play, as well as the physicality of the game.”

“Seeing how these guys played in the first half, our coach gave us great instructions on how to play and defend certain players and we just executed it well,” said Wilson.

"But I'm a bit of a perfectionist,” he added, “so I believe I could have done better but as a team, we did pretty good. And likewise, as a team we could have still done better.”

When asked to appraise the Slingers, Wilson said: "I think they are a good team but maybe they need a bit more gelling, but as far as talent-wise, they have a lot of players that complement each other. They have good shooters.”

The Slingers’ head coach, Frank Arsego, was just as critical of the lack of team cohesion. “We have to learn much more how to play together as a team. There were a few passengers in the team today, and we did not have enough contributions from them today.”

Statistically speaking, the Slingers didn’t have a nightmare of an outing.

Jeffers and Leblanc led the Slingers with double-doubles of 20 points and 10 rebounds, and 19 points and 12 rebounds respectively, but it was the turnover count which did the Slingers in.

They had 17 in the previous game against the Smart Gilas Pilipinas which they lost 70-67, but did not heed the warning signs there and chalked up 22 against Ginebra. The Slingers had eight alone in the final quarter which translated into 11 points for the Kings, and Frank Arsego acknowledged the erroneous play from his charges.

Arsego added: “We have to learn to be stronger with the basketball, to make it an emphasis and learn not to lose the ball.”

And the players gave no excuse for their poor showing.

"We played badly,” admitted Wong Wei Long. “The Ginebra Kings pressured well and we cracked under the pressure. I'll have to work on my three-pointers. My vision and passing also need work.”

Resonating with his coach, Wei Long confessed, “We didn't handle the ball well and that resulted in turnovers. This is only the first time we have a full team together so we have not gelled together yet. With more games, the team will naturally improve so this is the area we have to work on."

The Slingers will play their final match of the Challenge Series against the defending Philipine Basketball Association Fiesta Conference champions San Miguel Beermen this Sunday, October 4 at 4pm, before tipping off their ABL campaign a week later.

Scoring breakdown by quarter:
Singapore Slingers v Barangay Ginebra Kings
1st Q: 17-19
2nd Q: 23-15
3rd Q: 20-17
4th Q: 23-15
Final score: 72-77

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See fourth quarter highlights of the game:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1MakYpCz6g

See first quarter highlights of the game:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6FSaf0e-Y8