Barangay Ginebra was successful in equalizing their finals series against San Miguel in Lucena, and a lot of credit was accorded to rookie Kevin Ferrer.
“That’s Kevin. He is a rhythm shooter and when he gets it going, you got to look for where he is. He is a lot like (Marcio) Lassiter in that regard, you got to find him and locate him,” said Ginebra head coach Tim Cone.
“That is why we added him and wanted him so badly because he adds that element to our team that we don’t normally have,” Cone added.
Ferrer had 21 points, three boards and a block in the King's 124-118 victory over the Beermen but Cone noted that his rookie still has a lot to learn about the game – especially on defense.
“He is still learning the game. He made some mistakes defensively down the stretch and we are a defense-first team and we rely on our defense, it is hard to put our rookies out there if they don’t understand the importance and the all the techniques and the little things that we do defensively – we got distorted a little bit but got some good offense from him.”
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Cone believes that aside from sophomore guard Scottie Thomspon, Kevin Ferrer will be a huge key in sealing the 2017 PBA Philippine Cup.
“Kevin has been key for this whole conference. He adds that extra dimension that we lacked and had when we had Justin Brownlee. He used to do a lot of those stuff that Kevin is doing for us now.”
Ferrer is flattered and thankful to his coach upon hearing that he is compared to Brownlee.
“Iba yun ah! Siyempre compare lang naman. Keep on doing the right thing lang ako. Sundin ko lang ang plano ni coach. Thank you ako kay coach na nakumpara ako kay Brownlee,” said Ferrer, who also insisted that he was just following his coaches orders.
“I did my best lang. Yung game plan – kapag libre, tira ko talaga. Sabi nga nila kumpiyansa lang. Kailangan sundan lang namin yung plano.”
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Ginebra has a chance to take the series lead and momentum as they face San Miguel for Wednesday's game 3, 7pm at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Story by: Ernest Hernandez
Photo by: Peter Baltazar
