New import a boon for Blackwater

MANILA, Philippines -- A blessing in disguise.

Through all the trials and tribulations the Blackwater Bossing experienced in the early part of the PBA Governors’ Cup, the arrival of George King halted a five-year skid against the mighty Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings.

In the first two games of the conference, Blackwater had to endure subpar performances from import Ricky Ledo. In their third contest, they had to play All-Filipino against the San Miguel Beermen, wherein they led by double digits but eventually ran out of steam.

They were set to tap Cameron Clark to be the new import, but eventually found their way to King.

On Friday night, Blackwater finally crashed into the win column of the import-laden conference after upsetting Barangay Ginebra. This is their first triumph against the franchise since May 2019.

The victory came with the new import King leading the squad. In his PBA debut, King had 33 points, 19 rebounds and four assists.

Blackwater head coach Jeff Cariaso told reporters that he is “really happy” that King is now here.

“I just wanna say that things happen for a reason, right? So sometimes, things don’t work out with other people and it becomes a blessing to someone else and the person that’s supposed to be meant for us, will be the guy who’s here,” he said.

“So right now, so far so good. That’s how I look at it. That’s how optimistic we were so we maintained being optimistic despite the need to replace our first import and how George got here, I really don’t care, I’m just happy that he’s here,” he added.

King had a game to remember facing against beloved foreign reinforcement Justin Brownlee, who had 37 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Gin Kings.

The 30-year-old American shot 12-of-23 from the field, compared to Brownlee’s 13-of-34.

“How we got here is really for us, a blessing in disguise. He’s meant to be here. Let’s see how we move forward.”

Cariaso added that he is “very confident” with the rest of the conference, but insisted that with a 1-3 win-loss record, their backs are still against the wall.

“I’m very confident. I think the guys are learning how to play with each other even more, as every day goes by we’re learning how to play with George and George is learning how to play with us. We’re learning about each other. Through all that, there are games to be played,” he said.

“I think the tenacity and the mental mindset that the guys had tonight is something we can build on, how they approached it, how everyone was ready, how everyone was cheering for each other, we’re gonna need more of that,” he added.

“Tonight was a first step, don’t get me wrong. We’re really happy, but we know that with six games remaining, our backs are still against the wall and we gotta make things happen.”

For his part, King said that the team made it “really simple” for him, right from the get-go.

He also voiced familiarity with the offensive system of the Bossing, which helped him erupt.

“The offense that we have, I like it a lot. I’m really familiar with it, I ran similar stuff in the past, so I’m familiar with that so it just really fit like a glove, honestly,” he said.

“Our offense, coach here is really easy-going, so he really made it easy for me which took a lot of pressure off me so it just works. I think it’s a glove-fit, honestly.”

The Bossing will face the Phoenix Fuel Masters next on Tuesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.