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Ginebra’s Jamie Malonzo during Game 3 of the PBA semifinals against NorthPort.–PBA IMAGES MANILA, Philippines—There’s no better time for Ginebra’s second unit to step up to the plate than in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals. That’s exactly what the Gin Kings’ bench has done as the crowd favorites zoomed to a 3-0 series lead over No.
1 seed NorthPort in their best-of-seven clash. Coach Tim Cone has certainly made it a point to acknowledge the efforts of his bench pieces in the squad’s mission of reaching the PBA Finals for the second straight conference. “There’s a real good feel [right now] about ball movement and people movement,” said Cone after their 127-100 win over the Batang Pier on Sunday at Araneta Coliseum.
“It’s all coming together right now. We’ll just ride the wave as long as we can, hopefully into the Finals and into the championship but there’s a lot of basketball left.” Ginebra showed its depth with 58 points, outscoring NorthPort’s reserves by 19 points.
Jamie Malonzo provided the biggest spark off the bench for the Kings with 25 points and eight rebounds. “Jamie got confident, got his game going and felt good. That makes all the difference in the world,” said Cone.
“RJ (Abarrientos) is continuing to mature into our offense and defense as he’s gone about things and Mav (Ahanmisi) would be a starter for about any team in the league right now,” he added. RJ Abarrientos also shone with a double-double of 10 points and 10 assists off the bench while Ahanmisi contributed six points. Ginebra goes for a sweep on Wednesday at Araneta Coliseum.
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