Let me put it in perspective.
They have not lost in the last 60 days. That’s a span of about eight fuel price increases since they last tasted defeat.
In 80 days, they suffered only one loss. That’s a single defeat since the start of the school year.
Their 12-game win streak is the longest in 12 years, only one game short of the 13-game streak of Alaska in 1996. That’d be three presidents back for a longer win streak.
Their sweep of Red Bull was the first sweep in a best-of-seven in 16 years or not since Aiza Seguerra was still dancing in Eat Bulaga!
It is surely shaping up to be a historic run being engineered by the Kings.
Although with all the praises thrown at them right now, the conference was actually looking to be historic for all the wrong reasons at the beginning of the 2007 Smart Fiesta Conference.
Starting off the season with a game against Red Bull, Barangay Ginebra parlayed Rashon Turner. Turner couldn’t muster the right tunes for his team as he left the team reeling with a 0-3 record. Turner was so ineffective that during his stint, it seemed that it was Mark Caguioa who was the import. After Turner, it was Ernest Brown. The 7-foot Brown was big and much more productive than Turner but in the end he left his team with a bigger 0-5 record to deal with.
Everything seemed to be going wrong at this point and they had the worst record in the league. They had already gone through two imports and the rest of the field was leaving them behind.
So they made their third change. Out went Brown and in came Chris Alexander. On the onset, it looked like more of the same for Ginebra. Winning only one out of their first three games with Alexander. I remember Coach Jong Uichico saying that the tools are there for the team, the right import and locals, but the wins have not come yet. But when it came, it surely poured. After that statement, the Kings put together wins in 15 of their last 16 games.
When teams put in winning runs like this, it’s really not that easy to put your finger on the one thing that turned their season around. For Barangay Ginebra, you’ll probably need your whole hand to recognize the number of reasons for their run.
The one reason that most everyone will recognize for the run is Chris Alexander. Leading the league in rebounds, FG% and shotblocks, he may be the hands down choice for Best Import (with apologies to Steven Thomas and how much he has meant to Air21). You just can’t argue what Alexander the Great has done for his team, a 15-3 record, best winning percentage of all the imports. His passion has rubbed on real well with his teammates and has become an inspirational leader for his team. Oh, and his 20+ rebounds and 3+ blocks also help a lot.
But, as good as Alexander has been, the streak is not all about him. You have to look at what the Fast and the Furious have done. The combination of Caguioa and Jayjay Helterbrand have been good for a combined 40+ points, 10+ assists and 7+ rebounds.
Caguioa has gotten it together this conference after returning overweight in the season late last conference. His speed and quickness are back and has really torched opposing defenders.
The bigger story has to be the emergence of Helterbrand as the top point guard of the league. A debatable issue before, Helterbrand has put to rest any ideas that he is not tops at the one spot in the PBA. With career and league best numbers in assists, Helterbrand’s scoring has also jumped to over 20 in the semis.
In an offense that really allows the guards to shine, there have been no brighter ones than these two.
Another guard enjoying the Barangay Ginebra system is Paul Artadi. He has to be the most improved player within the conference. After struggling last conference and at the start of this one, he is now able to fill the void left by the injury to Ronald Tubid. His shooting and confidence are at its highest in his career. Proof of which is that he has hit three three-pointers this season. Not a lot, but his last trey before those mentioned was all the way back two years ago.
But with all the success that a team gets, people always look at what the players are doing. For Barangay Ginebra, I think more credit have to be given to what both management and the coaching staff have done for their team. If you look at the pick-ups management made, they really put their team in the best position to contend. Guys like Artadi, Chris Pacana and Alex Crisano were all grabbed without losing any of their own pieces. They also made the Valenzuela trade (without giving up Sunday Salvacion), one that I thought was overkill given the number of guards they had, but it turned out perfect especially with the loss of Tubid. They picked up guards that could create while getting big men whose main job was to rebound, defend and get drop passes. All in all, they knew what they needed and were willing to take a risk on players who might fit the bill. They took a chance on guys like Pacana, who was already in the US and Crisano, who was last seen dancing on TV.
But in the end, you have to credit coach Jong Uichico. The guy never panics! He was 0-5 and stayed with the system he believed in.
And this is not the first time he has taken a team 0-5 to the Finals, having done so with San Miguel Beer with Kwan Johnson in the 2003 Reinforced Conference.
Some people might say that his team is loaded with talent but when you look at it, there are other coaches that have been unable to harness their teams’ potential and haven’t been able to live up to their billing.
Barangay Ginebra has always sold itself to have a never-say-die attitude. For many games during the season, the big question on their fans was if that never-say-die attitude had already been forgotten. Question answered!
