INQUIRER Sports

GAME TODAY (Araneta Coliseum)
7 p.m. -- Air21 vs Barangay Ginebra

A NIGHT AFTER DEFLATING THE enemy’s bubble of confidence, Air21 coach Bo Perasol feels that his job -- and the title series for the Smart PBA Fiesta Cup with Barangay Ginebra -- is just about to start.

“We know that we cannot trail 1-2 and have to bank on that sense of urgency again,” Perasol said Saturday while preparing to leave for team practice and whip the Express into the same form they played with in Game 2. “All we did was tie up the series.”

The Express set out for the pivotal third game of the best-of-seven series slated at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum as the new prohibitive picks after making a statement with a 124-90 rout of the Gin Kings Friday night.

“Our objective (in Game 2) was to put a doubt in the minds of Ginebra (players),” he explained. “We didn’t go out there to just win it. Ginebra was oozing with confidence and it was important to break that confidence.”

Ginebra coach Jong Uichico, meanwhile, left it to his players to analyze what transpired in Game 2, which will go down as the worst loss of his checkered career and the franchise’s worst beating in more than three years.

“I asked my players to analyze it (result) for themselves and they didn’t need to answer me,” Uichico said. “We lost without a fight when all we needed to do was execute.

“We know how to play Air21.”

Jay-Jay Helterbrand, the Player of the Conference awardee, is a doubtful starter after pulling his left hamstring in the middle of the third quarter during a fastbreak attempt.

His absence could prove to be galling for the Kings, whose magnificent run of 13 straight victories—tied for third in the all-time list in the league—was anchored on the feisty 6-foot point guard.

Chris Alexander was also terribly outplayed by Steven Thomas on Friday. Taken out of his sweet spot right from the start, Alexander, the tournament’s Best Import, could only score 10 points and pull down 10 rebounds.