Stephen Holt of Barangay Ginebra/Scoreline.ph Exclusive
Juan Karlo Libunao (JKL)
Exclusive: Stephen Holt already contributing a lot while wearing Ginebra jersey
Stephen Holt is already making a tremendous impact in his first ever conference wearing the Barangay Ginebra uniform.
One of the best performances of the PBA’s Season 48 Rookie of the Year awardee happened on November 3, Sunday, when he was named as the Best Player of the Game with 18 points, three rebounds, two assists, and five steals to lead the Gin Kings to their second straight victory in the Finals after failing their first two battles.
Last season, Holt led the Terrafirma Dyip to a playoff appearance in his rookie year. But before Season 49 started, he and Isaac Go were traded to Ginebra in exchange for Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle.
In an exclusive interview with Scoreline.ph, Holt shared about his experience of being part of the most popular team in the league. He also shared what he can contribute in the championship round.
The Fil-Am guard said that it’s an amazing feeling that he’s back in the Finals after seven years of waiting. His last stint was in 2017 when he was still playing in the Czech League.
Now that he is back in the championship competition, the sophomore said that it’s the reward of the hard work that they put into the season.
“This will be rewarded with the opportunity to win a championship, which is what we all wanted this season. Now we just have to focus on our game plan, make sure we continue to play within the system, and hopefully we can win a championship,” said Holt.
The Ginebra two-player shared that he is expected to help the team in the defensive end but he hopes that their offensive game will flow smoothly.
“Both ends of the floor are going to be very important in this series. Obviously, defensively and hopefully on the offensive end, I can continue to contribute to being a playmaker and make some shots. And again, just continue to be a leader for this group.”
True enough, he’s been a thorn to the side of TNT’s reinforcement Rondae Hollis-Jefferson who’s recently been awarded as the Best Import of the Conference.
RHJ might have won the BIC award but the defensive prowess of Holt has limited the production of the Tropang Giga’s prized import, specially in the past two games when the Gin Kings made a comeback from a 0-2 deficit to bring back the series to square one.
After their Game 4 win, Ginebra head coach Tim Cone acknowledged the contributions of Holt on both ends of the floor.
"We keep saying Rondae is special and he creates so much havoc on the floor, defensively, on the boards but he also creates a lot of shots for his teammates. But I think the biggest key for the last two games has been Stephen and the defense he's been able to play over the last two games," said Cone.
"As amazing as Rondae is, Stephen's doing an amazing job as well so this has been one of the huge keys of why we're back into this series," he added.
The 6’4” guard was also all praises for his coach Cone, their import Justin Brownlee, and all of his teammates that helped him transition easily to the system of the team.
“It's been a really easy transition for me coming here since day one. The coaches have been great. Obviously, JB's been great, just making sure I'm up to date with the system and the reads. The chemistry has taken full commerce for us to grow, and obviously, finally we can see the results in the playoffs. So, like I said, they've been great for me.”
Holt also thanked the fans who supported them all the way.
“Oh yeah, thanks again to the fans for the support this whole entire season. It's been great. We feel the energy in the crowd, and hopefully we can bring that energy again,” Holt ended.
Game 5 of the best-of-seven series will be on November 6, Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
