Last July, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel made a bold move as they traded away two-time PBA Best Player of the Conference Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle for Stephen Holt and Isaac Go.

These two players, particularly Standhardinger, had become crucial in Ginebra’s success in the post-pandemic era. However, after failing to even make it to the finals in the last two conferences, it became clear that Ginebra had to shake things up. 

Things didn’t immediately click for Ginebra in the aftermath of this trade, as they kicked off the 2024 PBA Governor’s Cup with a 1-2 record. The absence of injured players Jamie Malonzo and Jeremiah further exacerbated the adjustment process for the new-look Ginebra roster.

Slowly but surely though, things began to fall in place for Ginebra as head coach Tim Cone, as he always does, figured out how to make things work. The trade that brought in Holt and Go, coupled with the drafting of RJ Abarrientos third overall in this year’s PBA Draft, was envisioned to improve Ginebra’s perimeter shooting and floor spacing and it has begun to bear fruit.

Ginebra won three consecutive games to improve their record to 4-2 and came into their match with the Group B-leading Rain or Shine Elasto Painters with a chance to force a tie for first place. These two top tier teams battled it out over the first two and a half quarters of the match and found themselves tied at 77-all with 4:14 left in the third period. This proved to be the turning point of the game as Ginebra uncorked a 13-2 rally to close the quarter.

The 25-year-old Abarrientos kicked off Ginebra’s run with back-to-back three-pointers before Japeth Aguilar and Holt joined in on the fray. Ginebra further extended their lead in the fourth quarter, with Holt hitting five more three-pointers to put the game away for good. They wound up walking away with an emphatic 124-102 win where their potential as a team was on full display. 

The spacing provided by the shooting threat of Holt and Abarrientos, who combined for 10 three-pointers in this match, has not only given Ginebra much more options on offense, but it has also freed up the floor for Justin Brownlee and Japeth Aguilar.

The ageless Brownlee put up a highly efficient 40 points on 19 shots in the win where he also collected 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Aguilar, who seems to have also found the Fountain of Youth in this conference, was their leading local scorer with 21 points on 10-of-15 shooting. 

Holt wound up with 18 points, Scottie Thompson chipped in with 17, Abarrientos tallied 14, and Maverick Ahanmisi, another recent addition, had 13. 

This revamped Ginebra team has the firepower to keep up with anyone in this Governor’s Cup and their exciting brand of play should only endear these crowd favorites to the masses even more. The decision to prioritize shooting over size has paid off handsomely so far and it will be interesting to see if it can bring this Ginebra team back into the Finals after a two-conference drought.