The Alaska Aces are having a historical run. The bad news is, it is in a bad way! In a span of two conferences, they have loss 14 straight games.
On the other hand, Ginebra continue to dominate. They are the defending champion and Greg Slaughter's return has morphed them into a different kind of a team.
So, let us examine the two squads and determine the reasons behind.
Here was the 1st quarter of their game last Saturday.
The very first possession of Alaska already shows something is wrong. They made sloppy passes, there was no direction and committed crazy mistakes.
Height is might. Greg shoot two shots in the first 2:30 minutes of the game just by towering other players and laying the ball. One thing that he is avoiding now is lowering the ball to avoid turnovers.
The presence alone of Greg affected Alaska. They never attempted a shot at the rim in the first three minutes and relied on outside and inefficient shots. As long as Greg's teammates remain discipline in their defensive assignments, Ginebra's defense will be elite.
In the two plays of Alaska in 5:00-5:44, you can see there how good Devance is, in terms of positioning. He forced Henton into awkward positions, so the ball never reached him.
Between 5:30 and 6:30 are two mind-boggling turnovers by the Aces. Mentally, the guys are not in sync.
Brownlee is positioned at the elbow where he can make quick plays for others or take advantage of cracks on the defense just like in the 8:29 play.
In 9:00 to 10:55, Alaska played much better on offense when they begin to be fearless and drive into the rim.
Wow! At 4:00, Coach Tim Cone put his gigantic line-up of Slaughter-Aguilar-Devance-Brownlee! That will be their key line-up in the playoffs and you can just imagine what is going into the head of coach Alex.
Defensively, that line-up was rock-solid. Alaska only succeeded to score two points. On offense, it seems like they are not yet ready to play the triangle. It was more of two man plays, led by LA Tenorio.
In conclusion, the losing streak has affected the chemistry of the Aces. Their inability to get to the basket remains a problem. Even their defense is now cranky.
On Ginebra, their defense is really elite. Coach Tim made sure that their length and height will not go to waste. The chemistry of Devance and Brownlee is also at a high level, making them an amazing playmaking offensive duo and malleable defensive partners.
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