Barangay Ginebra San Miguel took the series-opener in their semifinals matchup with sister team San Miguel Beermen this past Wednesday, 122-105. The fairly rested Gin Kings took advantage of the physically and mentally drained Beermen, who were on the heels of a grueling quarterfinals series against the Converge FiberXers, which unexpectedly went the distance.

In any case, it was clear that Ginebra was geared up and well-prepared for what SMB had to offer, and so they just pounced. The team collectively shot 55% from the floor, including 12-of-29 from three (41.4%), dished out a conference-best 32 assists, and only turned the ball over nine times the entire game. That’s a pretty smooth performance.

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Like clockwork, Justin Brownlee led the charge, delivering a game-high 33 points together with eight rebounds, and five assists on 10-of-17 shooting, highlighted by his blistering 5-of-6 clip from the four-point line, all across 28 quality minutes.

The now-legendary import then got solid aid from one of the locals, Ginebra newbie Stephen Holt. The 32-year-old Fil-Am barely rested and made the most out of his 42-minute playing time. He posted identical numbers with Brownlee: 30 points, eight boards, and four assists while going 11-of-18 from the field. Holt was assertive and focused, but also picked his spots pretty well, hence the efficiency, though it helped that the SMB defense was lethargic.

It’s great and all, but the question is, can he be finally consistent? Holt won the 2023-2024 PBA Rookie of the Year with the Terrafirma Dyip before being traded to the Barangay this past off-season, and as evident in his runaway ROTY win, he’s a heck of a talent that can score, rebound, facilitate, while also putting effort on the defensive end. He netted 21.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 6.6 assists, 2.5 steals, 52 FG% in the recent Philippine Cup conference, most of which are among the league’s best.

With Ginebra, meanwhile, things have been different, especially in his scoring. Here’s how he’s done over his last eight games: 

  • 30 points, 11/18 FGs
  • 19 points, 7/12 FGs
  • 6 points, 2/3 FGs (34 mins)
  • 14 points, 4/7 FGs
  • 7 points, 2/10 FGs (45 mins)
  • 9 points, 3/10 FGs (34 mins)
  • 3 points, 1/8 FGs (33 mins)
  • 18 points, 6/12 FGs

Those aren’t the full game logs. It has gone on the entire Governor’s Cup.

Of course, a good deal of his hot-and-cold trend is the shift in his role under Ginebra head coach Tim Cone, where the talent is deep and guys’ tasks vary, and anyone excluding Brownlee can be taken out of the scheme any day of the week. In Holt’s case, his size and strength are getting used on defense, which is nice and makes sense. That said, getting three-straight, single-digit scoring games with inefficient shooting is still inexcusable, regardless if you’re used as a decoy or a weapon on defense. He’s too good to have such stretches.

This SMB series could be telling. We’ll see if they’ll let him loose given how similarly deep the opponent is.

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