BARANGAY Ginebra head coach Jong Uichico wanted a six-foot-two import who plays big to somehow solve their frontline woes for the 2011 Governor’s Cup in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
But he ended up with a playmaker in Curtis Stinson.
But after beating Powerade on Sunday night at the Pasay City Astrodome, Uichico, it seemed, has changed his mind about his preference for an import.
Stinson had a near triple-double against the Tigers, scoring 15 points, grabbing nine rebounds and dishing out eight assists to lead Ginebra to a 92-80 win over the Gary David-less Powerade.
“His performance was okay. He competes, dumedepensa, pumoposte and involves his teammates kaya okay na rin sa akin,” said Uichico. “Wala kaming big man who can attract the defense of other teams and he’s doing the job he’s asked to do so far.”
Stinson, the reigning Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Developmental League of National Basketball Association, played 39 minutes in his debut in the PBA and was six-of-15 from the field and had no turnovers.
Uichico admitted that with Stinson playing the point most of the time, Mike Cortez’s minutes is expected to go down while Robert Labagala, who played impressively for the Kings in the Commissioner’s Cup finals against Talk ’N Text, could be riding the bench during the eight-game elimination phase.
“Talagang mababawasan ang playing time ni Cortez tapos kay Labagala baka mawala talaga,” he said. Starting guard Jayjay Helterbrand was in uniform on Sunday but did not play.
Ginebra will play the season-ending conference without Rudy Hatfield, who went back to United States to attend to a personal matter, as well as Billy Mamaril (hand injury) and Enrico Villanueva (ACL).
Yancy de Ocampo’s breakout game made beating the Tigers easier for the Kings. The Tigers missed their own superstar David, the leading local scorer after two conferences with 22.3 points per game, because of a hand injury.
De Ocampo tallied 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds, undeniably his best game in a Kings uniform and the team hopes that the former St, Francis of Assisi center will continue pouring in the numbers.
“I told the players just to be ready when their name is called and Yancy did a good job for us,” said Uichico.
“At sana magtuluy-tuloy kasi with this kind of format, walang playoffs, there’s no time to relax. Everybody needs to be consistent every game as possible.”
