You can’t keep a great man down for long and that rings true for the Kings.
Barangay Ginebra returned to its usual winning ways, dominating Blackwater, 119-93, to put its title-retention bid back on track in the 2023 PBA Governors’ Cup at the PhilSports Arena on Sunday, Feb. 19.
Determined to arrest a two-game slide, the Kings fired on all cylinders right off the gates, racing to a 17-point lead at the end of the opening frame – an advantage the defending champions managed to protect the rest of the way to improve to a 4-2 record in the standings.
Christian Standhardinger was at the middle Ginebra onslaught, following up his 29-point outing the last time with 27 points, five assists and four rebounds while Jamie Malonzo also asserted himself more on the offensive end with 25 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the distance to go along with his seven rebounds.
Justin Brownlee added a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds on top of his five assists as Ginebra added to Blackwater woes which now absorbed its sixth-straight defeat
After the Bossing took a brief 7-5 lead early in the first quarter, Ginebra unleashed a blistering 30-8 run that established a 20-point advantage with still 1:03 remaining in the opening frame.
Blackwater showed some semblance of fight in the second quarter when it managed to come within 10, 31-42, but proved to be the closest the Bossing could get as the Kings simply had answers to every run.
From there, the free-falling Blackwater never really came close to threatening Ginebra as the lead even ballooned to its highest at 26, 110-84, midway through the final frame.
Not even its decision to bring back Shawn Glover after three winless games with Troy Williams could save the Bossing as the original import choice could only muster 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Ato Ular, Baser Amer and Yousef Taha all finished with 12 points each but were not enough as the chance of advancing to the playoffs slowly dims for Blackwater.