GAME FRIDAY (Ynares Center, Antipolo)
7 p.m.—Brgy. Ginebra vs Air21

ANTIPOLO—Chris Alexander has outplayed all his counterparts in the entire Smart PBA Fiesta Cup playoffs.

And coaches of the other teams that got flattened along the way by Barangay Ginebra have been all too willing to concede Alexander’s handiwork.

“I admit, Chris Alexander outplayed Steve Thomas tonight,” Air21 coach Bo Perasol said Wednesday night after the Express stumbled against the Gin Kings in the opener of their best-of-seven series for the season-ending crown at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Never has the efficient and hardworking Thomas been so dominated in his brief PBA career, a sign that augurs well for the Kings and one that definitely alarms the Air21 brain trust.

“I feel we will be (a) much better (team) for Game 2,” Perasol added with a tinge of confidence despite that 105-96 Game 1 loss. “But he (Thomas) must do a better job for us.”

Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao also said some words to that effect in order to fire up Adam Parada, another man-mountain at 7-feet who got humbled by Alexander on the way to a Ginebra sweep of the Barako in the semifinals.

Alexander, the 7-foot-1 giant who is looming to be the logical choice for the Best Import award, shot 18 points, plucked down 25 rebounds while swatting away five Air21 attempts in a performance that carried the Kings.

It was the 13th straight victory for the Kings dating back to the eliminations plus sweeps of its first two opponents in these playoffs. Ginebra has not lost a game for close to three months now.

Incidentally, the Best Import award and the Player of the Conference trophy will be handed out before the game, set at 7 p.m. at the Ynares Center here.

An interesting thing to note also was the fact that Thomas missed 13 of his 21 attempts from the field.

“The good thing about being 1-0 up is that we put the burden of adjustment on them,” said Ginebra coach Jong Uichico. “At the same time, we have the luxury of doing some of our adjustments while in the lead.”

One adjustment that Uichico might make is find a man who can replace point guard Paul Artadi.

Artadi, reed-thin and standing no more than 5-foot-9, wowed the crowd during the warm-ups with gravity-defying dunks before coming off the bench to spark the Ginebra offense late in the first period.

But the former UE Warrior pulled his hamstring while going for a breakaway layup near the first quarter horn and is listed as doubtful on Friday.