Barangay Ginebra San Miguel waylaid the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters on Sunday, mostly on the strength of some red-hot 3-point shooting. In total, Ginebra sank 21 treys on 44 attempts for a blazing 47.7% clip from long range, with nine of those coming in the third quarter, where the barangay broke the game wide open.
The 21 made 3s is a franchise record and is three more than the previous best of 18, achieved in a Game 3 win over the TNT Tropang 5G in the 2023 PBA Governors’ Cup Finals.
Ginebra, the 3-Point Shooting Team
That Ginebra nailed 21 triples shouldn’t be surprising. After all, the team has superb marksmen from distance, starting with the ever-reliable Justin Brownlee, who sank six triples against Rain or Shine. RJ Abarrientos, another sniper from deep, added four. Even Scottie Thompson, much maligned for his supposed lack of outside shooting, can make a few from downtown as well. In fact, the former MVP went 5-for-9 on Sunday.
It doesn’t stop there. According to Tim Cone, he has at his disposal what is essentially a collection of 3-point shooters—and it is giving him no choice but to trust the trey ball a lot more than usual.
“I was talking about it with the coaching staff [Ginebra’s 3-point shooting], and it wasn’t really by intention, but we have gathered a three-point shooting team between Ralph [Cu] and Stephen [Holt] and RJ and Justin and Scottie, and his shot has developed,” Cone told reporters. “Even our bigs, Isaac [Go], Norbert [Torres], Troy [Rosario]—they’re all three-point shooters, so somehow we recruited a whole three-point shooting team.”
The numbers bear Cone out. Holt, Cu, and Abarrientos are shooting over 40% from deep this conference. Rosario is at 36.4%, Thompson is at 32.4%, and Torres is at 31.3%. And, as a team, Ginebra is second to Rain or Shine in 3s made per game at 12.3 on 33.8 attempts, which is third overall behind the Elasto Painters (38.9) and the Phoenix Fuel Masters (34.2). Impressively, Cone’s wards are shooting 36.4% from the arc, which is fourth in the entire league.
Cone’s Big Adjustment
While Ginebra appears to be embracing the deep ball, it doesn’t mean Cone is entirely comfortable with it. But he’s allowing his players to let it fly nonetheless.
“So, we gotta let them eat because that’s what they do well… and it’s always a, it’s a big adjustment for me, obviously, because I’ve never been a real three-point shooting coach,” Cone explained. “But, again, our personnel says they need to shoot three, so we’re letting them eat.”
They ate against Rain or Shine, all right. Now, Cone and the barangay can only hope they continue eating.
