San Miguel Beermen import George King puts an imaginary crown on his head after every basket. He smiles. He preens. He dances. But it’s nothing personal. It’s not to show up other teams.
George King just wants to have fun. Basketball, after all, is still just a game.
Basketball Is a Game, Says George King
And, three games into this PBA Governors’ Cup, King wants to keep building chemistry within San Miguel by making basketball fun, by making it enjoyable. He doesn’t want to lose sight of the fact that playing hoops is supposed to be fun. He doesn’t want his teammates to lose sight of it either.
“For me, it’s easy to lose focus that this is a game,” King told reporters after San Miguel beat the Converge FiberXers, 128-122, for its third straight win to open this conference. “And I go back to my early stages of when I found this game where I did it because it was fun and I enjoyed it. I still do, but I believe that at this point, sometimes it can be easy to forget that. Recently, I’ve been reminded of that and I’m using it going forward.”
It is certainly looking like King is having fun in his third PBA tour of duty. On Wednesday, he led San Miguel with 41 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block—all while pumping up his teammates and, yes, crowning himself after every basket.
Bringing Joy to the Beermen
The plan is to share that joy of playing with the rest of the Beermen. And against Converge, King and his teammates were definitely having fun. In fact, after Cjay Perez hit an improbable 29-foot four-pointer to end the third quarter, King celebrated with Perez and Don Trollano with a brief dance, a couple of emphatic high-fives, and plenty of smiles all around.
“Obviously, we are making plays and we are making our opponents call a timeout, and we are literally sitting there, and dancing, and just building our chemistry,” King pointed out. “I think these are the things that are going to pay off for us down the road if we continue to have success. I think it’s going to pay off for us going forward.”
It’s only been three games. But it seems like George King’s plan is paying off already.
