October 24, 2017

Tenorio willing to play 48 minutes to get the job done

LA Tenorio would rather be restless now than be regretful in the end as he hopes to lead Barangay Ginebra San Miguel to its second straight PBA Governors' Cup crown in Wednesday's Game 6 at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.

Tenorio redeemed himself from a scoreless outing in Game 4 by posting 17 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals Sunday that gave Ginebra a 3-2 lead over Meralco in the best-of-seven series with an 85-74 win in front of 36,445 fans.

"Actually coach Tim (Cone) is apologizing to me because of the extended minutes. I don't care. This is the championship, I'll just rest after the minutes," Tenorio said.

"If I have to play 48 minutes, I told him, I'm ready. Even in the next game. We don't have Sol now, I'm ready to extend my minutes," added Tenorio, referring to the left ankle sprained suffered by Sol Mercado late in Game 4.

Tenorio was averaging 32 minutes in the first four games, but wasn't part of the final seconds of Friday's 85-83 Game 4 loss when he went scoreless in 31 minutes.

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But the multi-time national team member made an immediate impact right from the beginning, scoring the game's first four points before maintaining his solid play until the end.

It also helped that Greg Slaughter, who started for the first time in the series, also made his presence felt that enabled the Kings to overcome the Bolts' second-half comeback and regain control of the best-of-seven series.

"We started really aggressive," Tenorio said. "We have to be aggressive for 48 minutes, we cannot be aggressive for three quarters or three and a half quarters. We did it the whole game, so we ended up winning the game. I think that's really the key."