One day later - Alaska's rout of Ginebra sets the tone for the Finals

With Alaska’s dominant 87-70 win over Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Wednesday, the Aces are now in prime position to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five Finals series of the 2013 PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

While Ginebra has fought best with their back against the wall, going 4-0 in elimination games this far, the Barangay knows that they need to get one back for them to have a shot at the title.

[Related: Aces lean on defense as Alaska swallows Ginebra to take Game One]


What Alaska did right

Take the crowd out of the ball game - From the start of the game, Alaska made sure Barangay Ginebra would be out of it. A 14-0 run in the first six minutes of the game deflated the mammoth Ginebra crowd.

Soft double/triple-team on Vernon Macklin - A huge part of Ginebra’s success in the Commissioner’s Cup is owed to the fact that they could just dump the ball to Vernon Macklin and expect two points. In game one of their series, Alaska’s defense took that away from Ginebra.

With Sonny Thoss as their primary defender, the Aces banked on a soft double and sometimes even a triple-team on Macklin every time he held the ball. Rob Dozier sagged off his man to help Thoss and prevent Macklin from going to the right for his patented hook shot. Jvee Casio also left his man to pester Macklin at the post and force him to give up the ball.

Get Sonny Thoss his touches - When their starting center gets his groove on offense, the Alaska Aces are much more difficult to stop. Alaska did not give Thoss the ball at the post. Instead, Alaska’s guards broke down the defense with their triples and later on with their drives. Jvee Casio and RJ Jazul then found Thoss lurking in the shaded area for easy baskets.



What Ginebra needs to do better

Kerby Raymundo needs to hit his mid-range jumpers - With Dozier sagging off him to help out with Macklin, Kerby Raymundo needs to hit his mid-range jumpers. If he does this, Raymundo will not only unclog the lane for Macklin, he’ll also give the Barangay more shots at offensive rebounds. Taking Dozier out of the shaded area is key and Raymundo is the only player from ginebra who can do it.

Tighten the rotation - While it was completely understandable why coach Alfrancis Chua went deep, he was desperate for a combination that could give him any production, such a tactic may have lingering consequences. In game one of the Finals, Chua was already substituting out players two minutes into the quarter, which could hurt their confidence.

One prime example was former Alaska Ace Mac Baracael. Not only was he struggling throughout the game, he likely lost what was left of his confidence after he was pulled from the game for good in favor of seldom-used Rico Maierhofer.

Prevent the Aces from getting offensive rebounds - It is a well-known fact that Ginebra plays best when they get transition points. The problem in game one was that they failed to run because the Aces kept tapping the ball out for offensive rebounds. One of the best ways to control the Aces on the boards is to put guys like Thoss and Dozier in foul trouble. This means that all of the Kings need to be aggressive from the very start of the ball game. - AMD, GMA News