Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Barangay Ginebra San Miguel coach Frankie Lim said his team capitalized on NLEX Road Warriors’ zone defense to hack out a rousing 110-107 victory and cap the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup elimination round Wednesday (June 24) at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
And it was evident in the Gin Kings final play.
With 15.8 ticks left and scores tied at 107-all, Lim carefully designed a play for imports Orlando Johnson and Kim Jiwan.
Johnson got the ball, drove to the basket, but NLEX’s zone defense forced him to kick the ball out to an open Japeth Aguilar in the left corner.
Aguilar didn’t disappoint and sank the three-pointer with a little over a second left that proved to be the game-winner.
NLEX had the chance to send the game into overtime but KG Canaleta’s off-balanced three-pointer was short.
“It all came down to making stops but I think we did well on their zone defense because it gave us the opportunity to make our three-point shots,” said Lim after the win that allowed them to book a trip to the quarterfinals.
Ginebra will enter its 25th-straight playoff appearance and will go up against topseed Alaska Aces.
It is also Lim’s first time to coach in the PBA playoffs, but said he’s not feeling jittery.
“It’s exciting. It’s something new to me and I’m really looking forward to it,” said Lim, who was a champion coach with the San Beda Red Lions in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA).
Aware of what’s at stake, Johnson played despite being under the weather. He finished with 21 points, eight rebounds, and six assists.
LA Tenorio also caught fire, scoring 21 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the three-point area.
Asian import Jiwan had 16, Greg Slaughter chipped in 14, while diminutive point guard Emman Monfort added 11 points.
