Game 1 was a tale of two teams showing contrasting effects of a week-long break before an all-important collision.

Justin Brownlee goes for a block on Rondae Hollis-Jefferson's off-balanced shot (PBA Images)

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On one side, Barangay Ginebra, the defending champion of the 2023 PBA Governors’ Cup looked fresh and sharp from the 10-day break while its challenger, the No. 1 seed TNT, barely showed semblance of the top offensive team throughout the conference, presumably losing all the rhythm due to the lull.

Even head coach Tim Cone was surprised with how his charges performed in that 102-90 series opening win with import Justin Brownlee shooting the lights out right on the opening frame exploding for 17 of his 31 points including a searing 5-of-5 clip from beyond the arc during that stretch.

“To be totally honest, I didn't know if we had done a good job of preparing for this game for those ten days," said Cone.

"I was questioning myself, I was questioning whether we should take Good Friday off. And I was questioning if we had taken too much time or we weren't working hard enough, a lot of questions going on throughout the 10 days.”

But the Kings came in armed and dead set to draw the first blood in the title showdown that, if they win, would further extend the team's dynasty after already winning four of the last five titles in the Governors’ Cup.

Five players scored in double figures led by Brownlee’s 31 while Jamie Malozno and Christian Standhardinger added 21 and 16. Scottie Thompson orchestrated the attack with a triple-double of 10 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists while Stanley Pringle added the scoring punch off the bench with his 11 points

“The guys came out really fired up to start the game, I thought, and set a good tone in the beginning of the game. I was kind of surprised, to be honest with you. And then, they were just able to carry the fight all the way through for 48 minutes,” he added.

In contrast, TNT, the league's best offensive team heading into the contest, shot a measly 38 percent from the field. Its 90 points was the lowest output of the team and only the third time they failed to reach the 100-point mark this conference.

A huge reason for that offensive collapse was Tropang Giga’s main weapon, the three-point shooting, completely abandoning them with a poor 9-of-35 shooting from beyond the arc as compared to the Kings’ 15 of 36 clip.

Cone, however, believes that they just caught the Tropang Giga on an off night and that it won’t take too long for them to find their rhythm back.

“They didn't have a great shooting night tonight, but they're going to have two or three games where they just shoot lights out and there's probably nothing we can do about it. Tonight, that didn't happen, so we were able to control the game a little bit,” said Cone.