The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel will look to tie the Magnolia Chicken Timplados for the second spot in the standings in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup when they square off this Friday against the NLEX Road Warriors. The Road Warriors, on the other hand, will try to stop the bleeding and breathe life into their playoff hopes.
Catch this game live on Friday, November 25 at 5:45 pm, Manila time.
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel (7-2)
Projected Starting Five:
- PG: Scottie Thompson
- SG: Stanley Pringle
- SF: Jamie Malonzo
- PF: Justin Brownlee
- C: Japeth Aguilar
Ginebra keeps on winning. The Barangay extended their win streak to five games following an 89-85 victory over the TNT Tropang Giga on Nov. 20. As usual, Justin Brownlee led the way for Ginebra, as the team’s resident import scored 21 points to go with nine rebounds and eight assists along with three blocks.
He can definitely shine anew this Friday opposite NLEX’s leaky defense that is second-worst in the league with a 110.9 defensive rating. In NLEX’s last game, Terrafirma Dyip import Lester Prosper exploded for 50 points. Brownlee, however, doesn’t have to do that because he’s got a deeper set of local talent behind him, which includes Japeth Aguilar (17.1 PPG, 8.0 RPG) and the reigning PBA MVP Scottie Thompson (16.7 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 5.9 APG). Ginebra is also second overall in this conference with just 92.2 points allowed per game.
NLEX Road Warriors (3-7)
Projected Starting Five:
- PG: Matt Nieto
- SG: Kevin Alas
- SF: Don Trollano
- PF: Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser
- C: Earl Clark
NLEX is moving in the opposite direction in the standings, compared to the Barangay. The Road Warriors have lost all their last five games, but it’s not due to the lack of production from their import, Earl Clark. Over that span, Clark has had two games in which he scored at least 40 points. In their 124-114 loss to Terrafirma on Nov. 18, the Road Warriors got 45 points from Clark. Don Trollano and Brandon Rosser helped out on offense with 26 and 22 points, respectively.
But the defense was obviously a problem in that contest for NLEX. If anything, at least the Road Warriors aren’t being doomed by poor ball security, since they are No. 1 this conference with just 13.0 turnovers per game and also No. 1 in terms of turnover rate (11.5%). NLEX plays at a fast pace (3rd in FGA/M), so it’s impressive that the Road Warriors are keeping their turnovers at a low level. The Road Warriors are also averaging 26.0 FTA/G – second in the conference.
PREDICTION:
Spread: Ginebra (-12.5) covers the spread.
Over/Under: The total (192.0) hits the Under.
