Cone, Kings wary of well-rested Beermen

Games today:

(Mall of Asia Arena)

5 p.m. — Ginebra vs San Miguel Beer

7:30 p.m. — Rain or Shine vs TNT

A two-day rest is a welcome respite for Barangay Ginebra to recharge after a grueling first week of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup semifinals series.

But Kings head coach Tim Cone also knows that the ceasefire from the first three games of the best-of-seven series would also allow San Miguel Beer star June Mar Fajardo precious recovery time for the calf injury he sustained in the opener.

Ginebra braces for a healthier Fajardo and a more determined Beermen when it aims to step closer to the biggest stage in a crucial Game 4 showdown today at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Kings eye to extend a 2-1 best-of-seven series gap in the 5 p.m. curtain-raiser followed by Rain or Shine’s attempt to equalize against grand slam-seeking TNT at 7:30 p.m.

“I would assume they would. As soon as he’s ready to start, they will start him,” Cone said about his thoughts on the possibility of the 6-foot-10 behemoth returning to his usual dominating self after the break.

Relying on their vaunted defense and rookie RJ Abarrientos’ 18-point fourth quarter explosion, Ginebra regained the lead with a 100-90 victory in Game 3 last Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

However, Fajardo played more minutes in Game 3 and was moving better compared to the Beermen’s dominating win in Game 2.

The eight-time Most Valuable Player logged in more than 27 minutes and came up with 12 points and 14 rebounds compared to just 17 minutes in Game 2, where he got only two markers and seven boards.

“They had some really good success in Game 2, not starting him and having him come up from the bench. We had to kind of change our rotations, in case June Mar comes off the bench,” Cone said.

“We were able to adjust our rotations a little bit. (The) first game surprised us. We had really no clue that June Mar wasn’t going to start, and so our rotations kind of got screwed up when he came out of the bench and Japeth (Aguilar) was tired. So, this time we tried to save Japeth a little bit and match him up to June Mar,” the 25-time PBA champion tactician added.

A healthier Fajardo would also open up other scorers like CJ Perez, Don Trollano and Jericho Cruz to attack the basket and snipers Juami Tiongson and Marcio Lassiter to take their usual spots.

This means Ginebra needs to adjust once again its defensive schemes to score its first back-to-back wins in the series.

Meanwhile, the Elasto Painters are looking to take advantage of the possibility of Tropang 5G top guard RR Pogoy sitting out a second straight outing due to hamstring issues.

Rain or Shine returned to life after going down a 0-2 hole with a 107-86 blowout victory in Game 3.

Fiery Elasto Painters mentor Yeng Guiao is looking to level the series and drag it out longer.

“Our best chance is to make this series long. If it becomes a short series, we’ll lose,” Guiao said.

“So, at least we won (Game 3). We know it’s going to be five games. If we win again, we know it’s going to be six games,” he added.

“So, we know our best chance is really taking this series to the stretch.”

TNT is at a disadvantage without Pogoy, who scored 28 points in a 98-91 win in the series opener. It doesn’t help that, without a second offensive option, the Elasto Painters could easily zero in on Calvin Oftana defensively.

Oftana was limited to just three quarters of action and 16 points last Sunday, just two days after exploding for 39 in a 113-105 overtime win.

“After playing TNT three times in the semis, we know what it takes. They’re very competitive, they’re very disciplined, and then they have a double-barreled shotgun in Pogoy and Oftana. With their sheer talent, they can take over a game,” Guiao said of the rivals that booted his team out in the Governors’ Cup and Commissioner’s Cup semis.

“We’ll try to break that trend. Wednesday is the big game. We feel that if we can break through, our previous series ended in 4-1. So, at least we’ll level the results of our last two playoffs against them,” Guiao said.