The Magnolia Hotshots' defense is a maze the defending champion Barangay Ginebra have yet to solve. With the Hotshots loaded with guards who can pressure Ginebra's ball handlers, the Kings' usually fluid offense has bogged down and Ginebra finds itself on the verge of elimination from the PBA Governors' Cup semifinal series.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone declined to answer questions from the media after his team absorbed a 101-97 defeat in Game 2 of their best-of-five series.
Instead, the winningest coach in PBA history pointed to his lead assistant Richard Del Rosario to answer the queries about the game. Cone's long-time lieutenant had to lead the team in the final 10 minutes of the contest after Cone was ejected midway through the fourth quarter.
"Their pressure defense has been affecting us for two games already but they are not the first team to do it against us," Del Rosario said. "All throughout the elimination round and even in our past championships, we also dealt with pressure defense, so we already know, supposed to be, how to react. This time we were not responding well."
Magnolia has been banking on the depth of their guard rotation with Paul Lee and Mark Barroca playing the big minutes and Jio Jalalon and Justin Melton backing them up.
In Game 2, Magnolia limited Ginebra to only 19 assists, a drastic dip from their 28.7 average. The Kings, who committed the second-fewest turnovers in the league, committed 23 errors (five more than their average).
"Their pressure has been causing us to rush our offense a little bit," Del Rosario said. "But more than that, I think it has to start with our mental toughness. Our players are getting too annoyed with non-calls. So they're resorting to playing one-on-one. We need to remind our players that if there's no call, we don't have time to complain. We just have to go to the next play. We have veteran players who know how to handle this situation."
The players were not the only ones affected by the referees' calls as Cone exploded early in the fourth quarter.
"Coach Tim was frustrated. It's not the first time it happened and I believe it fired up the players. We made a run but we missed a couple of looks to send the game into overtime so we came up short," Del Rosario said. "But he was still very positive in the dugout. He told us we can have a pity party and feel sorry for ourselves or we can get back up and look at the things we need to do to get back in this series. Game 2 is over and done with. We need to focus on Game 3."
For Magnolia, they're fully aware that defensive pressure is the best bet for closing out Barangay Ginebra. Mark Barroca blanket coverage of LA Tenorio was key to the Game 2 win.
Things remained tense between Barroca and Tenorio throughout the game.
"I was just playing tough defense against him because that's what I need to do," Barroca said. "It's nothing personal. After the game, LA and I are okay but on the court, I'll defend him as well as I can."
Barroca knows all too well that a 2-0 series lead against Ginebra does not guarantee that they'd make it to the Finals as the Hotshots held the same lead back in the Philippine Cup last season.
"We were also up 2-0 against them but they got back. We won Game 5 but we still lost the series," Barroca said. "We know it's not a safe lead so we need to stay aggressive because when Ginebra gets going, they are still very dangerous."
Magnolia coach Chito Victolero said they are using the 2017 Philippine Cup semifinal defeat to Ginebra as added motivation to close the series out on Wednesday.
"We still remember the Philippine Cup last year, when we were up 2-0, but we lost the series," Victolero said. "I still remember that. My players still remember that, so that is going to be our inspiration for this series."
Magnolia took a 3-2 series lead in the 2017 Philippine Cup semifinal series before Ginebra claimed Games 6 and 7 to advance to the finals.
"We will try our best and we hope we can get the third win. So the most important thing now is for my players to get a good night's rest, then we just have a walkthrough in practice and more importantly, prepare ourselves mentally for Game 3," Victolero said.
Victolero is looking for his first PBA title as a head coach. The series resumes on November 14 at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
ESPN5's Richard Dy contributed to this report.