Breaking down Ginebra's botched inbound plays in Game 1

Editor's Note: This article has been re-edited to attach pictures courtesy of TV5.

The first game of the semifinals series between the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings and the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers ended up being the cardiac ball game that everyone expected. The Mixers, thanks to a big stop from Joe Devance and a go-ahead one-hander from Mark Barroca, were able to escape with the victory.

The Kings were down by two, 81-79, late in the fourth quarter when LA Tenorio went on a gorgeous curl to the basket for a wide-open layup.

In the next possession, Mar Baracael stole the ball from rookie Justin Melton and threw an assist to a streaking Tenorio for the go-ahead layup. For a moment it looked like Ginebra will draw first blood in the series but it all fell apart in the final 36 seconds of the game.

San Mig Super Coffee head coach Tim Cone called a timeout to design a play.

“Back pick,” Cone said as he drew on his board. “You might get a layup. They’re playing so tight, you might get a layup,” Cone told Joe Devance. The multi-titled head coach then drew up the rest of the play but none of it was needed as he was proven right about his first option.

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The play starts with Marc Pingris flashing out of the set. The next action was for Yancy De Ocampo to receive the inbound pass from Devance. De Ocampo faked a three in an attempt to attract Greg Slaughter's defense as the San Mig big man sank one earlier in the fourth quarter.

This was quickly followed by Devance, the inbounder, cutting to the basket and Barroca providing a backpick. As Cone read correctly, the Kings played really tight. Baracael got caught up with Barroca's pick which allowed Devance to break free. De Ocampo, an above-average passer at his position, found Devance wide open for the game-tying basket. It's also important to note that De Ocampo attracted Slaughter's defense with a shot fake which gave Devance all the space he needed to score.

With still 32 seconds left in the clock, the Mixers successfully completed a two-for-one as they earned themselves another crack at the basket whatever happens with Ginebra's possession (of course except if they allow the Kings to grab an offensive rebound after a miss).

Then it all went awry for the Kings.

Their set started like San Mig Super Coffee's. Four Kings were spread around the floor with Baracael triggering the action in front of their bench.

Japeth Aguilar then ran towards Baracael while LA Tenorio did the same but towards the baseline. However, they were covered by the Mixers' two best defenders in Pingris and Barroca. Devance also used his height and length to bother Baracael.

With defenders swarming his receivers, Baracael decided he should burn Ginebra's last timeout. In the screen grab above, Aguilar is actually open for a pass but Baracael was already looking at the referee to prevent a five-second inbound violation.

If you look at the two screen grabs, you'll notice that Slaughter and Caguioa both didn't move in the play. Aguilar and Tenorio were obviously the first two options but a third one, triggered by perhaps a Slaughter down screen for Caguioa, could have given the Kings a much better shot at putting the ball inbounds.

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“Alam na nila yung opensa natin e,” said team manager and former head coach Alfrancis Chua during the timeout as head coach Ato Agustin sat in front of his players.

“Baka ma-deny e,” an assistant coach from the background said. “Baka ma-deny yun e,” Agustin said as he faced Chua but he cut his sentence to say “Hindi. Okay na ‘to.”

“Jap, ganun ka muna,” Agustin said while motioning for a down screen for Tenorio. “Tapos tuloy mo na, set a good screen,” he added. From the video, it was unclear if Agustin’s instruction was for Aguilar to flash out or cut to the corner.

“Gusto mo coach si Greg na lang?” interjected a different assistant coach, suggesting that Slaughter should receive the ball. But that idea was quickly shot down by Agustin.

Agustin continued with his instructions saying “Greg flash sa middle.”

“Pag walang papasahan dapat may fum-lash,” Chua said.

“Eto nga si Greg,” Agustin replied. The Ginebra head coach ended his timeout by reminding his boys that they no longer had timeouts to call and that, make or miss, they should just run back on defense as the Mixers also have no timeouts.

As instructed, Aguilar gave Tenorio a down screen. Instead of running to the three point area after the down screen, Tenorio correctly reads Barroca's defense.

The San Mig point guard cheated on the screen by going over it instead of sticking to Tenorio, which would have allowed him to chase the Ginebra guard to the outside. However, Tenorio saw this and immediately cut back to the baseline to give Baracael an open receiver.

But, instead of flashing to the outside, Aguilar ran towards the ball which was smack in the middle of the passing lane between Baracael and Tenorio. While Barroca was out of the picture, Aguilar's movement allowed Pingris to defend two Kings at the same time. Slaughter flashed towards the middle, again as instructed by Agustin, but as seen in the following picture, Baracael was looking at Aguilar and Tenorio, his number 1 and 2 options.

When Baracael decided that it was too risky to pass with Pingris lurking, Slaughter contiued to run towards the ball but Aguilar flashed out which again allowed Pingris to defend both Ginebra big men  (De Ocampo has already fallen behind but Ginebra's spacing was cramped on one side).

With no timeouts left, Baracael took his chances by throwing the ball towards Aguilar and Slaughter. It was the correct idea as the tall men had a bigger chance of getting to the ball first but his pass was tapped by Devance. (Do note that, as seen in the last four pictures, Caguioa did not attempt to move away from PJ Simon's defense.)

The ball was saved by Barroca from going out of bounds and the San Mig point guard proceeded to score the game's winning basket.

It's easy to say that the Kings should have done this or that because hindsight is always clearer. It's easy to say that the other coaches could have allowed Agustin to be the sole voice in the huddle like what the Mixers did for Cone. However, we have to accept that different teams have different ways of doing things. Ginebra was able to top the eliminations with that set-up and maybe they were just a bit unlucky for that game.

It was a painful turn of events for Ginebra as they dropped a game which could have been easily theirs. But for sure, the Kings will learn from this mistake. In Game 2 of the series, expect a more focused Ginebra squad.