MANILA, Philippines — Tim Cone isn’t expecting just one or two players to carry the load for Barangay Ginebra in his team’s quest for the PBA Philippine Cup championship.
No wonder, the American mentor is elated every time another player other than Japeth Aguilar or Scottie Thompson would step up on both ends of the floor.
Last Sunday, with the Gin Kings’ quest to secure the fourth and final twice-to-beat advantage on the line, Filipino-American guard Stephen Holt rose to the occasion to tow the league’s most popular squad to a 98-80 win against a fighting Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.
The 33-year-old Holt, selected top overall pick in the PBA Draft, two years ago, finished with a conference-best 27 points, along with 12 rebounds and four assists to help Ginebra finish off ROS behind his team’s 27-13 fourth quarter exchange.
“This is the Stephen Holt we know all the time. And this is the Stephen (we see) in practice. We like the effort he brings on both sides of the ball, it’s really phenomenal,” a beaming Cone said in commending Holt.
The PBA’s all-time winningest coach praised Holt for always “leading his teammates by example.” “He led us in shooting (against Rain or Shine). He led us in that department, because usually (he leads us) in other departments like in defense, ball movement, he gets to the boards, get back on defense,” Cone said with emphasis.
For sure, the sweet-shooting Holt shifted his role from being a go-to-guy during his rookie season at Terrafirma, to becoming more of a defensive stopper when the Dyip traded him to the Gin Kings prior to last year’s PBA Draft.
The 6-foot-4 Holt didn’t mind the change in role, stressing the team’s goal of winning a championship as his primary motivation.
“Started with mentality in practice to set the tone,” Holt said, who averaged 14.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists in the Philippine Cup. “We want to play our best basketball at the end of year (season). It’s the last game of the eliminations so we want to finish on the right note and continue the momentum we have.” Holt is eager to win his first PBA title if ever, something that eluded him twice this season when Ginebra could only finish as runner-up to TNT in the first two import conferences.
“This will be our third try for the championship and every detail matters to us,” he added.
Ginebra will enter the playoffs that begin this week as the fourth seed, and will face off with no. 5 ranked Converge on Friday.
