JUSTIN Brownlee and Christian Standhardinger each scored 32 points and Scottie Thompson added a triple-double in leading Barangay Ginebra to a crucial 121-103 victory over San Miguel Beer Sunday in their PBA Governors' Cup semifinals duel at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
Together with their multi-faceted offense the Gin Kings also proved to be tenacious on defense as they led from start to finish enroute to taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series, a hole which only one out of 42 previous teams have ever climbed out of.
Following a much more impressive win than its 121-112 victory in the opener last Friday, the defending champion now has three chances to wrap up the duel and book a return trip to the finals, starting Wednesday when the series shifts over to the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Coach Tim Cone prefers to temper everybody's expectations of a sweep, taking the moment to admit even he was taken aback by the way his team played with much more energy and eventually go up by such an imposing count against a powerhouse team like SMB.
"I'm totally shocked by this game in terms of how our guys played in a Game 2 like that. Really shocked and obviously really pleased," said Cone before himself offering the explanation.
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"I think what the guys really pride themselves in is they're all two-way players," commented Cone. "Basically, we're a team that prides ourselves on both sides of the floor... and that gives us an opportunity to win games like this."
That also gives the Gin Kings the momentum to try and wield a big broom in Game 3.
"It's nearly impossible to beat them three straight times," said Cone "I mean, we're gonna try and do the impossible on Wednesday. The good news is, we've got a day off to kind of recover a little bit before we re-focus on Tuesday to get back to our game-planning."
Brownlee added 10 rebounds and seven assists to his points total and Standhardinger eight and seven to his, but it was Thompson who grabbed a share of the limelight with 21 points, 11 boards and as many dimes.
The three were also mainly responsible for Ginebra racing off to an 18-1 start, a lead that got stretched to as much as 96-72 just seconds into the fourth period.
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Cameron Clark's 23 points and 17 rebounds paced SMB, which shot itself on the foot early by missing its first six shots from the field and committing three turnovers.
The Beermen did manage to assemble some uprisings, the most notable when they came to within 68-76. But the Gin Kings easily quelled the threat by going on a 12-0 run to extend the difference back up to 20.
CJ Perez added 20 points for SMB while Chris Ross had a personal conference-high 19 points to go with eight assists. (NC)
