San Miguel def Brgy. Ginebra, 131-125 [PBA S49 Govs’ Cup SF Game 2 | Oct. 11, 2024]

The rigors of playing a hectic schedule seem to have finally caught up with San Miguel Beer in this critical juncture of the PBA Governors’ Cup.

Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone is not one to commiserate with its visibly fatigued opponent going to Game 2 of their semifinals duel Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

A well-rested and hot-shooting Ginebra pulled off a cruising 122-105 win last Wednesday to take a resounding head start in the best-of-seven affair.

How to do a fitting follow-up is an entirely different matter for Cone, wary as he is that doing a big rebound following a loss is part of the SMB lore.

How his team can recover and refresh from its past schedule, that saw it get stretched by Converge to five games in their quarterfinals series and also kick off its EASL campaign, is basically SMB coach Jorge Gallent’s main concern.

With only two days to prepare for the start of the semis, the Beermen initially managed to keep in step with the Kings. But only in the first half.

As soon as Justin Brownlee started booming in the last three of his total five 4-pointers and the likes of Stephen Holt, RJ Abarrientos and Scotty Thompson chipped in on the offensive end, Ginebra was well on its way to the lopsided win.

Import AJ Anosike had 27 points to lead SMB but only scored a total of four in the two middle periods, while June Mar Fajardo had 16 points, 16 boards and seven dimes but managed to put up only nine attempts from the field while going 5-of-10 from the stripes.

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