INQUIRER Sports

IN THE SEMIFINALS of the Motolite PBA Fiesta Cup, no team had gained a clear advantage over the other.

No one could win back-to-back games and surge ahead with a decisive edge. The swiftness of the coaching adjustments, the fatigue of a long season, and the heightened intensity of the playoffs could all account for the trend.

Until last night.

San Miguel finally broke the “you-win-one-I’ll-win-the-next-one” sequence that seemed thematic in the semifinals.

A 120-119 double overtime win in a Game 4 “test of will” pushed the Beermen to a 3-1 lead, a knock away from entering the finals door.

It’s a scary sight for opponents when the Beermen refuse to crumble and instead unleash the full strength of their star-studded roster. This, after all, is the No. 1 team of the classification round.

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The Beermen turned Game 4 around at the start of the second half and then canned clutch free throws in the second extension to nip in the bud the Whoppers’ seven-point surge that tied the game one last time at 116.

To first level the series, Burger King’s first target should be two big defensive games. Once tied, the series could go either way, especially since the emotional quotient of this series is already at such a high point.

The Whoppers find themselves in a hole that they can only climb out of one grasp and step at a time.

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In the other series, first-time semifinalist Rain or Shine has to respond even more aggressively to the challenge in Game 5.

Although the series is now even at 2-2, Barangay Ginebra is not the team you want to meet when it gains even the slightest momentum, what with the energy it plays with and the crowd that supports it.

The absence of Sol Mercado due to a hamstring injury is hurting the Elasto Painters in the emotional department of the series.

Mercado’s gutsy drives to the hoop are sorely missed in a series where Xs and Os can be overshadowed by raw emotion.

In the second quarter of Game 4, Mercado could have helped avoid a meltdown as the Elasto Painters shot miserably and scored only 11 points while Ginebra ripped the cords in almost every possession.

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Even without Mercado, Rain or Shine now has to look at Ginebra straight in the eye in Game 5 and convince the “barangay” that they are not merely neophytes on the PBA playoff stage.

Just like the Whoppers, the Painters need to turn it on defensively in an emotional theater where Ginebra is at home.

In the sports page, you’ll probably read that the series has been reduced to a best of three. It has actually been sliced down to just one game at a time for either side.