Ginebra star Mark Caguioa says no more 'zero' shooting night

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Ginebra star Mark Caguioa says no more 'zero' shooting night

WITH Barangay Ginebra fighting for position as the playoffs draw near, superstar Mark Caguioa said he can no longer afford to go on a shooting funk like he did against San Mig Coffee a couple of games ago.

“I just can’t shoot for 0-of-11,” Caguioa told SPIN as he recalled his awful shooting performance in an 86-89 loss to San Mig last September 8. “That was just my main thing, I mean, I’m not that type of player (who’ll just shoot woefully).

"I could shoot maybe 3-of-11 but not zero field goal. I think it’s the first time, maybe zero of three may ganun, pero beterano na ako, di na ako pwede mag 0-of-11, mahirap talaga,” he added.

The six-foot guard out of Glendale Community College has atoned for that horrible shooting night by firing a personal conference-best 32 points on an efficient 14-of-25 shooting to lead the Gin Kings to a 101-100 win over Rain or Shine on Saturday.

Caguioa, who is averaging 16.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 34.4 minutes of action for the Gin Kings this conference.,was so hot in that game that he went 11-of-13 and scored 24 points in the first half alone.

The difference between the two games, he noted, is good ball movement - or the lack of it.

Caguioa said he usually gets into the flow when Ginebra's offense is in synch, but is forced to take a lot of shots - and mostly contested shots - when it isn't.

“Depende, the reason I got to shoot a lot, because di gumagalaw ang bola. Ngayon, pag umikot na iyan, mas madali ang basketball," said Caguioa.

"Siguro, when I shot 0-of 11, someone always had to contest my shot and it doesn’t just have to be James Yap, pero it’s the whole (San Mig) team stopping me,” he added.

The 33-year-old hopes to get more good looks at the basket beginning with the crucial game against Globalport on Friday to ease the scoring load on LA Tenorio and import Dior Lowhorn.

“I wasn’t helping LA that much (by going 0-of-11), tapos si Dior nandun na (ang offense). Ang problema lang namin nun (against San Mig), nawawala ang ball movement.”