George King was rolling in the third quarter of Game 5. He had just hit a booming four-pointer—his 12th straight—to stake the San Miguel Beermen to a 71-61 lead. He was feeling it. He put on his imaginary crown and gave fans of Barangay Ginebra San Miguel the mean mug and stare-down.
He would score just four more points after that. Ginebra ramped up the intensity on defense, put pressure on 94 feet, and gave King the blanket—all while putting up an avalanche of points against the shell-shocked Beermen. Ginebra ultimately won Game 5, 110-94, to book a seat in the PBA Governors’ Cup semis opposite the TNT Tropang 5G.
George King Laments Free-Throw Disparity—Again
Afterward, the prolific King once again rued the free-throw disparity—30 attempts for Ginebra as against only 8 for San Miguel—as the major reason the Beermen lost.
“It’s hard to win games when they shoot 30 free throws as a team and we shoot, I think, 7 free throws. It’s very difficult to win like that,” King told reporters in the aftermath of Game 5. “That was the difference in the game. If you look at the box score from a team perspective, each team has 16 assists. We had 40 rebounds. They had 45 rebounds… But you look at the free throws. That’s where the difference was tonight.”
This isn’t the first time George King lamented the number of free throws Ginebra was awarded. After San Miguel lost Game 2, 126-99, King also blasted the free-throw disparity, pointing out, in particular, how Jordan Murphy got 21 attempts to the Beermen’s 23 as a team. He even intimated that the referees were “favoring one team” in that crucial outing.
George King Doubles Down
On Tuesday night, George King doubled down on his accusations as he again emphasized the number of freebies—16 in total—Murphy had in Game 5. And, just like in the aftermath of Game 2, King again insinuated that the officiating favored Ginebra. This time, he also hinted that the referees might have been targeting the Beermen deliberately.
“He shot like 18 or something like that… We shot 7 as a team. We played well enough to win this game tonight,” King stressed. “The difference was the whistle. That’s how I never got this game tonight… the whistle. Two of my fouls were not warranted. They just blew the whistle on me… It’s almost like we were targeted. I’m just speaking frankly. Performance-wise, we played well enough to win this game.”
Of course, George King conveniently left out the part where San Miguel committed nine turnovers when Ginebra, led by Scottie Thompson and Nards Pinto, unleashed a 40-8 blast that turned a 76-63 deficit in the third into a 103-84 bulge in the fourth. He also failed to mention how the Beermen went 7-for-19 on jump shots from the time they built that 13-point lead up until the final buzzer. He certainly didn’t mention how Troy Rosario shut him down in the fourth.
To be fair, San Miguel certainly played well, particularly in the second quarter and for much of the third, too. But the Beermen couldn’t finish the job, and, at least for George King, those free throws were San Miguel’s undoing.
