STEPHEN Holt may have been in absentia on offense in the first two games of the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
But coach Tim Cone came to the defense of the 34-year-old wingman, noting his contributions go well beyond just scoring.
“People are saying, I know there was a lot of internet noise about him not playing well,” Cone told media men, shortly after Ginebra routed TNT, 116-102, to clinch Game 3 and wrest the title series lead, 2-1. “He has been playing great."
The American coach said fans may question his decision to let Holt stay in the game even when the Filipino American guard-forward isn’t scoring that much. But the Ginebra coach stresses that Holt highlights his value through the intangibles.
“I think if you are just looking at Stephen strictly as a scorer, you are not looking at the whole game of basketball. He is a lot more than just being a scorer. He impacts winning in so many things that he does, even when he was not scoring a lot,” Cone emphasized.
“He is the kind of guy who looks at the game and says, ‘OK, this is what I need to contribute.’ Sometimes it will be scoring. Sometimes it will be being a ball mover. Sometimes it will be their spread-out guy. ... And then the stuff you don’t see off the court as well,” he added.
On Sunday, Holt went exploding on offense right off the bat of Game 3, scoring 15 quick points on 3-of-3 shooting from the three-point zone to help the Gin Kings jumped off to a sizeable 35-16 advantage.
Holt’s sizzling offense, coupled by Justin Brownlee’s 41-point outing, allowed Ginebra to take control of the game en route to fashioning out the win before more than 18,600 fans at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, easily the biggest crowd for the PBA season.
Holt, who only averaged 0.5 points in the first two games of the series, finished with 23 points and four rebounds along with two steals.
“When everybody said he was struggling, he struggled in the last two games, I didn’t think he struggled the last two games. He just wasn’t looking for his shot. And tonight, he came out looking for his shot. And it was impactful,” said Cone.
Brownlee, on the other hand, said Holt simply set the tone for Ginebra’s series-leading victory.
“He came out and set the tone for us offensively but he’s always consistently defending the best players on the other team,” said the long-time Ginebra resident reinforcement, a cinch to win his fourth Best Import award.
“We didn’t really notice he was struggling because we saw him do so many other things.” RICHARD DY
