(c) Inquirer
In a shocking way, Meralco dominated the defending champion, Brgy. Ginebra San Miguel. Nobody anticipated that because it was also the season debut of Greg Slaughter and he actually performed well!Let us checked two quarters of that game to see what happened.
Ginebra looked for Greg on their first two plays. Of course, that was the right way to go to jump start a returning player and to sense the difference early on.
Meralco is playing fast, early on.
In the first three-minutes, Greg's presence was huge. Allen Durnham received that messaged with his two shots blocked by Greg. So, how did Meralco respond?
Newsome already hit two jump shots from the right elbow. His sweet spot?
Ginebra was not yet in sync on defense. They gave up open shots for Amer and Durnham on the middle of the quarter.
Nabong for Dillinger was the first substitution of coach Norman. He went tall to fight back the size of the Kings.
Ginebra was hitting their shots beyond the arc. Inside and outside, Ginebra's offense was clicking.
After 9 minutes of game time, it was obvious to me that all Meralco players were instructed to look for their open teammates.
Ginebra was in control of the 1st quarter, what happened on the next quarter?
Meralco started with the zone defense.
Checked 3:36 (video time) and you will see how over the place, Ginebra's defense was.
Checked 4:34 (video time). Everyone is ravaging about sharing the ball in the modern era but that play reminds us that sharing is not really all about just passing the ball.
Newsome's feel on putting the ball inside the basket is tantalizing. Checked the 6:00-7:00 (video time) to see two plays of him, scoring the basket.
Better late than never! Pause at 8:37 and you will see why Ginebra's defense was murky. Yes, they were playing in a kind-a zone. Unfortunately, zone was not made to make it a 4-on-5 affairs.
Meralco were not hitting their open three-pointers but they were veteran shooters who will keep shooting and mathematically, their shots should fall down soon.
All throughout the game, Newsome had been shadowing LA Tenorio.
Cliff Hodge is already comfortable as a catch-and-shoot player on offense. I think he could be more than that but he can also grow on the role.
Greg re-entered the game around 9:00 (game time) and the Kings had failed to set up him up deep on the paint. At 14:42, they will get the ball on Greg but the spacing was not proper.
One prominent thing in these two quarters was how Durnham was outsmarting and outhustling the bigs of Ginebra.
On those two quarters, Ginebra's lead in talent was obvious but their defense was being exposed by Meralco.
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