Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is back in the finals of the PBA Governors’ Cup—the sixth time in the last eight years. And that the team is back in familiar territory despite dealing with a rash of injuries is a testament to its next man up mentality, according to guard Maverick Ahanmisi.
Ginebra, of course, is still without its talented wing pair of Jamie Malonzo and Jeremiah Gray, who are both recovering from injury. Backup big man Isaac Go injured his right knee in the eliminations. Even Scottie Thompson, the former MVP now flashing his MVP form, had to be brought along slowly due to a back issue, while enforcer Aljon Mariano is still finding his way back from a long hiatus.
Then, in Game 6 against the San Miguel Beermen, Ginebra was another man down, with Joe Devance coming in crutches after sustaining a bone bruise on his left knee in Game 5.
Ginebra Finding Heroes Every Game
None of that has mattered to Ginebra—not with players stepping up seemingly every game. And in Ginebra’s Game 6 closeout of San Miguel, it was Maverick Ahanmisi’s turn, chipping in a conference-high 28 points on 3-for-6 shooting from downtown. More importantly, he scored 18 of those points in the first half, when Ginebra trailed early.
Ahanmisi, though, deflected credit postgame.
“A lot of people stepped up tonight, Japeth [Aguilar], RJ [Abarrientos], down the line,” he told reporters. “I think that’s the characteristic of this team, the next man has to step up. Like coach said, Joe [Devance] went down and we had a lot of key guys came in and made big plays. Ralph [Cu] came in and played big for us. I think that’s the characteristic of our team right now, it’s next man up…”
That has been the story for Ginebra at all conferences—different guys are stepping up at different times.
It was Stephen Holt in Game 1 (30 points 8 rebounds, 4 assists), Aguilar in Game 3 (22 points, 8 rebounds), and Abarrientos in Game 5 (28 points). Then, with a finals berth on the line, it was Ahanmisi.
The PBA Governors’ Cup Finals begin on Sunday, October 27, and Ginebra will need more of this next-man-up mentality against the red-hot TNT Tropang Giga.
