Japeth Aguilar (left) is carrying the bulk of Ginebra’s effort to battle San Miguel Beer’s June Mar Fajardo in the PBA Governors’ Cup semifinals. —PBA IMAGES

Barangay Ginebra entered the PBA Governors’ Cup playoffs with cautious optimism, no thanks to injuries to mainstays Jamie Malonzo, Miah Gray and recently acquired big man Isaac Go.

But the Gin Kings have been solid in the knockout phase, winning all but one of their six games thus far, with three of those coming over a Meralco crew that was looking for a second straight championship.

The other two victories came against San Miguel Beer in these semifinals.

SCHEDULE: 2024 PBA Governors’ Cup semifinals

When asked about the thing that has been making the Kings tick, coach Tim Cone had a simple response: Joe Devance.

“He’s playing really, really well. Without him, I don’t think that we would be here playing San Miguel the way we are,” Cone said of his old reliable, who came out of retirement on Sept. 26 to help the crowd darlings through these playoffs.

Devance, now 42, is hardly the effective player who won 12 titles in the PBA. He now makes his impact by playing the role of an extender for Japeth Aguilar, who, at 37, is averaging 20 points and 7.6 rebounds in the semifinals to give the June Mar Fajardo-led Beermen everything they can handle.

READ: PBA: Ginebra puts bitter taste of Game 2 loss behind

“Obviously, there’s no one guy who can compete with June Mar for 48 minutes. There’s no one guy. As good as Japeth is, he can’t compete with him totally by himself,” said Cone. “[The] minutes that Joe is giving Japeth are really crucial to how we’re doing it.

Aguilar’s splendid play has been key for Barangay Ginebra, which has a 2-1 edge over the Beermen heading into Game 4 of their best-of-seven semifinal showdown. With a two-day break, the high-leaping forward and the rest of the Kings are looking primed to take a commanding lead after their 7:30 p.m. clash at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The lull is also something that can afford TNT a chance to sober up after allowing Rain or Shine to take a breakthrough victory in Game 3 held in Dasmariñas, Cavite, last Sunday.

“As coach [Chot Reyes] said, we missed block-outs. They (ElastoPainters) had 18 offensive rebounds and 19 second-chance points. And towards the end, we just couldn’t really execute defensively while they were making their shots,” said Poy Erram, who turned in a conference-best of 27 points and five rebounds in a 110-109 loss.

The Tropang Giga accounted for just five offensive rebounds and eight second-chance points. And if there’s any squad that truly needs time to reflect and extra days to clean up its act, it’s the defending champion.

“It should be a big help,” Erram said as TNT hopes to prevent the ElastoPainters from leveling the series in the 5 p.m. clash.

“It’s important, I think, to have some extended break because it keeps the quality of the game high. When you can come in and play fresh, it keeps the quality of the game high,” Cone said.

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“When both teams are worn outbitbet, sometimes the quality can go away. So I like the fact that we’re getting a couple of days off,” he added after the Game 3 win. INQ

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