Jamaal Franklin, the explosive Converge import who became gun shy against Barangay Ginebra Sunday night, was in no mood to talk to media in the aftermath of the FiberXers’ 101-120 setback against the Gin Kings.
Franklin could only come up with four points, taking only five shots and made two of them.
His performance was a stark contrast from his 57-point output he produced in a 129-132 overtime loss to Meralco in which he was also able to complete a triple-double performance.
Franklin was the only player this conference to score more than 50 points twice, but his performance against the league’s most popular team was a big let-down.
On the heels of the FiberXers’ third straight loss that saw them crashing out of the race for a top four berth after ending their elimination round at 6-5, head coach Aldin Ayo hinted at changes in the team.
With still two weeks before they resume action in the playoffs, Converge can plot its next move.
The FiberXers have plenty of time as the PBA wraps up the remaining elimination round games before going to Passi, Iloilo for the All-Star Weekend.
“For sure, there will be changes, but I cannot divulge yet what it is,” Ayo told media after the game. “We still don’t know yet what the decision is, but for sure, there will be changes.”
According to Ayo, they have already identified the problem that led to the team’s three straight defeats.
“There were precedents,” he added. “Like in our game before against Blackwater, you can see it in his body language. There were several games also. The instruction was really to play within the system. But I don’t know what happened.”
Asked about the import change, Ayo would rather let the management decide on the fate of Franklin.
This is not the first time Converge had encountered trouble with its import.
Last conference, the FiberXers were also in deep hunt for a possible twice-to-beat berth, but they had trouble with their reinforcement, Quincy Miller, who was benched for one game as part of the disciplinary measures when he came late during practice.
That cost the match against NorthPort and deprived the FiberXers an opportunity of cracking a twice-to-beat in the quarterfinal round before eventually losing to San Miguel Beer in the best-of-three playoffs.
Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone was surprised on Franklin’s decision of pulling his punches.
“We were a little bit surprised that Franklin wasn’t as aggressive as he has been, but that’s not our issue,” said Cone. “Our issue is go out and win basketball games. If he wants to take 50 shots or zero shot, it doesn’t matter with us. We just go out there and try to win.”
“They’re having an issue and we don’t know about it, but we don’t really care,” Cone added.