Gallent made sure to acknowledge his star's efforts.
The San Miguel Beermen held a 93-81 lead over the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings with 5:07 remaining in their matchup on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
A 12-point advantage is by no means a guarantee for a win, certainly not against Ginebra.
And true enough, the Gin Kings slowly climbed back, trimming the SMB lead to single digits before turning it up once more in the final minute, and bringing that deficit to a single point, 100-99.
Only that Ginebra fell short to eventually lose, 102-99.
There were several inflection points in clutch time, and it would be no surprise if some point to San Miguel import Cameron Clark’s chasedown block against Scottie Thompson at the 2:35 mark as one of the most important plays of the game.
It was the time when Ginebra was starting to build momentum as they finally claw back within single digits. A Thompson bucket would have put them down by only 7 points with more than 2 minutes of game clock.
For Clark, it was just about knowing the game plan, and executing it.
“Coach [Jorge Gallent] said this game is going to be [won] by defense,” the reinforcement said in the post-game presser.
Gallent was quick to say that it was not only Clark who understood the assignment.
After Clark spoke, the coach leaned over to the microphone to say a few words about his local star, six-time PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo.
“By the way, June Mar played good defense today.”
A week ago, Fajardo was the subject of straight-shooting words from rival coach, Aldin Ayo of the Converge FiberXers, who said that The Kraken was actually the Kryptonite to San Miguel due to his defensive shortcomings. Converge defeated them that day.
Whether this statement from Gallent is a response to that, it’s hard to conclude. What’s sure is, his squad indeed played good defense to defeat crowd-favorite Ginebra on Friday.
San Miguel limited three-time Best Import Justin Brownlee to a quiet 21 points on a pedestrian 8-for-18 shooting. The Gin Kings also committed 15 turnovers that led to 21 points for the Beermen.
Now, the Beermen have tied the TNT Tropang Giga at the top of the standings at 7-1. Both teams are now assured of a quarterfinals berth.
Fitting that they will next face each other on Sunday, February 19, at the PhilSports Arena.