Ginebra’s Jimbo Aquino is face-down on the floor unsure if his Adam’s apple is still intact. The recipient of a clothesline from Air 21 enforcer Ronnie Matias in the second half of a yet another blowout game, Aquino is the center of attention even if he’s down for the count. A rookie’s chagrin is proof of a PBA team’s recent success. In the happy land of Ginebra’s four-game win streak, even a third-unit guard like Aquino earns time under the spotlight. It feels good even if it hurts. Aquino’s plight reveals the frustration of opponents like Matias as well as the domination of Ginebra over its recent counterparts. Correction; Ginebra doesn’t dominate, it destroys. Four games. Four convincing wins. I’m less surprised at Ginebra’s winning run and more astonished with the way it has won games.
If Air 21’s Ronjay Buenafe could have hit someone from Ginebra too, he probably would have. Buenafe was the latest victim of Ginebra’s shut-down defense. Limited to just two field goal attempts in the entire first half, Buenafe the offensive dynamo became Buenafe the flustered scorer. Air 21 shared in Buenafe’s grief. The Express shot just 33 percent from the field and made zero out of six 3-point shots in the first two periods. The game was over by halftime.
Lopsided games are ugly but, from Ginebra’s vantage point, there’s beauty in the evisceration of four consecutive foes. Food tastes better. Air smells fresher. These are luxuries only streaking winners have. Despite purported spats over playing time and number of shots, all seems blissful in the kingdom. There are more high-fives than pointing fingers. There are more jubilant body-bumps than disparaging looks. They must feel like winners as they should. Hence, the harder Ginebra is on opponents, the easier the team is on the eyes.
Willie Wilson believes Ginebra is winning with high-energy defense and equal-opportunity offense. Wilson, Rudy Hatfield and Enrico Villanueva slam bodies in the paint the way adolescents crash into one another at a Kamikaze concert. Meantime, Ginebra’s army of guards moves the ball around the perimeter the way the San Francisco Giants complete double-plays. It is swift. It is exact. It produces results.
So what’s making Ginebra such a joy for fans to watch? What’s making every Ginebra player such a delight to play with if you’re a…Ginebra player? Is it just an uneasy truce or a chemistry problem finally solved? In professional teams, ideal situations are as elusive as 5-game winning streaks. Then again, the Gin Kings are winners of four-in-a-row.
And knowing Head Coach Jong Uichico, he neither pleads nor coerces players to perform a certain way. Uichico doesn’t motivate in the collegiate sense. He expects. Astute individuals should know what they need to know. In winning four straight games, Uichico expects players to have already seen the pattern for success, grasped what separates losing from winning. Ginebra is enjoying its equal-opportunity success; open to all, even to Ginebra role players down on the floor, gasping for air.
Mico Halili, GMA News TV
