SMB Loses to Ginebra Despite Absence of Slaughter & Aguilar

Ginebra is now considered the top San Miguel Corporation team in the PBA. The Gin Kings proved their mastery over the San Miguel Beermen last night. Their Commissioner's Cup win was no fluke. And to add insult to injury, they won without their twin towers, Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter who were both injured.

While the Beermen might say they had no Jun Mar Fajardo and Marcio Lassiter, they were still expected to win the match since they had a healthy Alex Cabagnot, Chris Ross, Arwind Santos and Christian Stanhardinger to support their import AZ Reid. But their import seems to be nursing an injury, too. And it might be time for SMB to replace Reid while it is still early in the Governor's Cup Conference. Reid might have been great in the past, but he won't be able to match up against the likes of Justin Brownlee, Eugene Phelps or Henry Walker - imports in teams currently dominating this conference. And don't discount TNT with a Markus Blakely.

Reid was shooting blanks from beyond the arc. He was hardly a post up threat. And his defense against Brownlee was nothing special. An import should be able to cancel out the opposing team's import at the very least. This can be done by matching or exceeding point production, or shutting down the opposing import's offense.

The Beermen might have offensive night outbursts like their game against Columbian, but their offense has not been consistent. So, if I were to get a replacement import, it has to be someone who can pick up the offensive slack, if the locals are stuttering. Without Fajardo, the Beermen have no go to guy if their shooters are missing their shots. A potential bright spot was Chris Ross, who tried to score with a lot of drives to the basket. But a scoring Ross means less facilitation. I would rather have a facilitating Ross who makes sure that the other SMB players are getting the ball, than an offensive minded Ross.

SMB's coaching staff should also remind Standhardinger and Santos to defend better. I miss the Arwind blocks. And I think Standhardinger could become a great defender if he decides to focus on this. He could be the key to defending against imports. Another potential defender could be Kelly Nabong. He should drop his offense and focus on being the best defender on the team, if not in the league. Learn from Dennis Rodman, who despite being small, defended the likes of Shaq really well. MGR could join the defensive party too. SMB should be able to come up with a defensive play against Brownlee, Phelps, and Walker, in case it ends up matching against these teams if ever it reaches the quarter finals. Otherwise, SMB might be taking an early vacation in this conference.