The Final Score: Ginebra winning streak has old-school vibe

One needs to be an old-timer to know. One needs to be an old-soul to see the resemblance. Ginebra has six straight victories. Yet instead of looking ahead, it wouldn’t hurt to look back. Just for today. What we see in today’s Ginebra is a glimpse of what we witnessed from yesterday’s Ginebra.

Yesterday?

What is yesterday?

Yesterday isn’t April 8, 2013. Yesterday isn’t even April 8, 1997. We need to go farther back; an epic rewind. Go beyond The Fast and The Furious. Go beyond Gordon’s Gin. Go back to when Ginebra was less a hotbed for emerging stars and more a repository for league nomads. Besides, if not for yesterday’s Ginebra, today’s Ginebra wouldn’t carry the same mystique.

Yesterday?

Who is yesterday?

I can say Robert Jaworski but that would be too convenient. To credit him anew for the sports culture that he spawned feels a bit trite. Instead, I invoke the name of Ed Ducut. Because in evaluating the last three games of Ginebra’s six-game winning streak, when unlikely players perform in unlikely ways, I can’t help but remember the Essence of Ed.

Who is Ed Ducut? Each time Jaworski sends Ducut, a gangly back-up to the back-up center, into a game, the crowd erupts. It’s a thundering sound. You know that moment when Maximus enters the Colosseum? It sounds the same. Ducut is not Ramon Fernandez. He isn’t even a Romulo Mamaril if you can believe that. Yet old-timers all know his name and old-souls have heard of his story.

Ginebra is somehow marching forward without Mark Caguioa’s 23 points, five rebounds and three assists per game. Vernon Macklin (32 ppg, 15 rpg in the last three games) and LA Tenorio (21 ppg, five apg in the last three games) are making it happen. These guys, however, are no Ed Ducuts. Strangely, I can say they’re not worthy.

Can an Ed Ducut play for today’s Ginebra? Malabo. But there are guys who have traces of Ed Ducut in them. Guys like Rob Labagala (10 points versus Meralco). Or Elmer Espiritu (10 points versus Air21). Or Rudy Hatfield, who can score two points while taking a siesta on the floor.


Without Mark Caguioa, players like Rudy Hatfield (C) have stepped up their game. KC Cruz

I know, I know, these aren’t exact matches. Ducut would love to have had their salaries for sure. But for Ginebra to make this big push without its best local player on the court, Macklin and Tenorio must excel and some unlikely guys must have some unlikely performances.

Someone posted an amateur video of Macklin’s game-winning lay-up against Meralco on Youtube. In the clip, a female voice screamed, “Shoot that ball Macklin!” Then, I believe she shrieked, “Come onnnnn!” Once Macklin scored, she let out a visceral scream.

No sir. That wasn’t an Ed Ducut moment. Masyadong high-profile yan. Yet it means something for Macklin and Tenorio to win alongside guys who display a kind of Ducutian persistence. Ginebra’s myth was built on overachievement, real or imagined, sustained by players who make today feel just like yesterday. - AMD, GMA News

source: http://www.gmanetwork.com/

sa ganyang panahon aq nag-umpisang humanga at sumubaybay sa bwat laro ng ginebra......ed ducut...cayetano salazar...mukesh advani...latoza...hndi cla sikat na players pero gnawang bayani ni coach jawo kc tinuruan nyang magbigay ng puso sa larong basketball....

exactly kakabs! mga unsung heroes, ganyan ang mga ginebra players nuon, I think ginagaya ni coach al yung style ni jawo noon ng pagmomotivate sa kanyang mga players...& it's a good sign dahil lumalabas din yung galing ng mga magic hugot players nya

Parang yung time ni CA44