Back From The Grave? Hopefully

Nice win by Barangay Ginebra against Global Port to finally end its five game losing streak. It was the second meeting of the two teams but unlike the first one, this was no blow out for the Kings. It was a down to the wire match.

The first half was quite ugly for Barangay Ginebra. Except for Mark Caguioa, it seemed that everyone had no desire to win. They resorted to too many one on one plays and lapsed into 17 turnovers which Global Port capitalized on. At the onset, Ginebra went down by 10 points right away.

Ginebra began their fight back in the second half. But Gary David's hands started blazing scoring all of his 27 points in that half. Things began falling Ginebra's way when the trio of Mark Caguioa, JJ Helterbrand, and LA Tenorio found their shooting touch from the outside and held off Global Port 71-69.

The game could have gone the other way if not for the error by Willie Miller. For us fans, a win is a win and gives us a huge sigh of relief. The losing streak ended at 5. It was Ginebra's first win in a month. I could not imagine the feeling if it was BGSM that lost. It would have been their sixth and would have put them in a much deeper hole.

Well Ginebra may have won but there is still a long way to go. Next stumbling blovk would be the mighty defending champions Talk n Text. It will not be an easy match as the Texters are leading the way so far.

As a fan, I am hoping that the Global Port win is the start of their journey to the Promised Land. Will they repeat the miracle of 2008 when they went 0-7 but still won the championship of that conference? Many doubt it because first there is no Cris Alexander and the current team has no dominant center. At this point, their confidence is still down and a win against the Texters could pump up their confidence level-- imagine beating the top team. But I believe that if they can manage to keep their Never Say Die spirit wavering, they can pull it through.

One game at a time. I believe that's the key. They should not look at their standings but simply play their game. They may be at the bottom right now but if there is one team who have emerged from this predicament, it would have to be Ginebra.