After that, they let go of a 14-points lead, to give up the victory to NLEX Road Warriors, last Saturday!
So now, they are gasping for their playoff lives, currently tied with Phoenix and NLEX for the 8th spot.
The last four games of Ginebra will begin easily. They will play Kia Picanto. After that, they will need to take down a contender in TNT and then a struggling squad in Meralco and lastly, a surging franchise in Rain or Shine.
Ginebra only have a little bit of time to fix their path. The first thing that they need to do is to find the questions that they need to answer.
#1 Transition Defense
I understand their low fastbreak points, because coach Tim is putting more emphasis on a slow-it-down-help-the-defense approach. The difference between their transition points and the points in transition that they were giving up was the one that was unacceptable.
In their last last three games, they managed to produced 8.7 fasbreak points per game, but they gave up 19.3 points per game. Meaning, they were outscored by 10.6 points in transition! That is ridiculous!
Examining their roster will actually tell us, that they do not have players who have the tools to be elite transition defenders, other than Japeth Aguilar and Scottie Thompson. Unfortunately, those two have big responsibilities on their offense and rebounding. So, they cannot put enough focus on their transition defense.
So, it is up to their teammates to pick up the slacks and do their part in forming a formidable team transition defense. Consistency is very important in stopping leak outs. So, that is the first thing that their teammates must do.
#2 LA Tenorio
LA is only 33 years old, but there is a chance that father time is already creeping on him. In there last two losses, his decision making and athleticism were failing him. He registered a total of 22 points, 7/24 FG, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 6 turnovers in 63 minutes of play!
Ginebra badly need him to start to be a real threat and make plays for his teammates, again. Without Joe Devance and Greg Slaughter, the offense was run heavily through Tenorio. Scottie Thompson is a great a passer, but in terms of playmaking, Tenorio is the only King, capable of making plays in 10 straight plays.
#3 Bench Support
The bench of Ginebra is missing in action. We may need to consider the fact that they are suffering from a lot of injuries, but 21 points per game from their bench will not be enough.
Especially now that their starting five is missing Greg Slaughter.
The supporting cast only shot 37.9% in the field, in their last three games! With that kind of efficiency, they are asking their starters to win them the game.
John Wilson could be the wildcard to breakout, but if Ginebra do not find anyone in their bench, they better make a move. Unless, they are already conceding this conference to their sister franchises.
Overall, all those problems above could be solve with the return of Greg Slaughter. But, with his injury history, they better not trust Gregzilla too much.
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