The Final Score: Ginebra starts Off-Season of Introspection

The kingdom is silent. Let the dust settle. Let the pain subside. Ginebra was one defensive stand or Eric Menk jump-hook away from staying in the hunt. After the euphoria from Jay-Jay Helterbrand's almost-game-winner in Game 5 subsided, the scenes thereafter have morphed into a kind of haze.

While four other teams contest the PBA Fiesta Conference crown, even before it looks ahead, Ginebra prepares to look inwards. Management will look at coaches. Coaches will look at players. Players will look at each other. All of them will ask the same thing, "Now what?" Even Ginebra Head Coach Jong Uichico needs a moment to think about that. It's a simple question with no easy answers. Ginebra made several big moves during the Fiesta Conference (which in turn led to other smaller but not necessarily less important events within the team). One can't simply backtrack by pressing one button. One can't simply evaluate by looking at one person, even if some fans insist it's Uichico who's accountable. "Just like me, the fans just want to win," Uichico, in an interview before Game 4 against Alaska, said. "Just like me, if we lose, I have to point the finger at someone. It's either me, the players or someone else who's to blame. Alangan naman they pinpoint their favorite players. I have nothing against them. They have the same intentions as I do and that's to win the game. They're just as frustrated as I am. They're die-hard Ginebra fans and all they want is to win." Frustration is amplified by irony: Cyrus Baguio, who reportedly made unsportsmanlike gestures towards the Ginebra bench after Game 5, made the key defensive play of the night for Alaska. Maybe fans displeased with Uichico will vent their ire on Baguio instead. Frustration is amplified by oddity: Mark Caguioa, 50% of The Fast and The Furious, had 0% participation in Game 5. Caguioa's numbers in the series, however, just like Ginebra's performance in the tournament, deserve a thorough look. Caguioa averaged 23 minutes in Game 1 and 2 but made only 5-of-20 total field goals. His minutes dropped to nine in Game 3 and just four in Game 4. Frustration is amplified by uncertainty. I know we always say a PBA off-season will be exciting. But this particular off-season for Ginebra seems to carry a different significance. We wonder if new chapters in the Ginebra saga will be opened and old ones will be closed. And Ginebra will make only two types of moves: big or huge. After all, a team that had the moxie to make changes during the tournament will not be afraid to do the same when the league hibernates. The uneasy truce ends. The chasm of progress, or an attempt to make progress, starts. With no games to play, all Ginebra has is time; time to answer questions that have piled up since the start of the season, time to match expectations with explanations, time to start the team's fight for the future. – GMANews.TV