INQUIRER Sports

GAME TODAY (Araneta Coliseum)
7 p.m.—San Miguel vs Barangay Ginebra

MANILA, Philippines - Jong Uichico has the perfect term for this: “Jump Ball.”

The Barangay Ginebra coach goes into another Game 7 in order to become the first team in seven years to repeat as PBA champion as his Gin Kings battle San Miguel for all the Motolite Fiesta Cup marbles tonight at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

“Now it’s a jump ball (in Game 7). At least we have a 50/50 chance of winning the championship,” Uichico told reporters Wednesday night after failing to wrap up the best-of-seven series and yielding momentum on the side of the Beermen.

Game time is 7 p.m. with the Big Dome expected to rock as Uichico will be hard-pressed to keep Ginebra’s unblemished Game 7 slate intact and nail down a 10th career title considering how bad a whipping he and his Kings got in Game 6,98-84.

The first Ginebra win in a Game 7 came in 1991, when Rudy Distrito nailed that majestic fall away jumper in the dying seconds that completed a 1-3 comeback against Shell and Bobby Parks in the Reinforced Conference.

Chris Alexander then led the Kings to victories in the final two games last year to nip Air21 in only the second championship rubber match in the history of the franchise.

The Beermen are installed as the favorites tonight, never mind if they will come into the match the losers of their last three Game 7s and 2-4 overall in matches of this magnitude.

“The thing is God put us in this situation to test us. It’s how you respond to adversity that would define you, whether as an individual or as a team,” San Miguel’s Siot Tanquingcen said.

“This is still far from over, we have one game to go.”

And while the Beermen will come into the game with momentum, they will still feel the pressure to win, having been picked as the solid bets to win this, and win it quick.

That did not happen, leaving Uichico and his Kings in a practical nothing-to-lose situation after taking these Finals this deep.

“I didn’t imagine that we’d be up (or at least tied, the whole time) and setting the pace,” Uichico explained. “Who would imagine that (despite) all the odds against us, that we would be up 3-2 (after Game 5) and with the chance to win the championship.”

Ginebra played so bad and San Miguel so well on Wednesday, that’s why Game 6 could not be made entirely as the gauge for Game 7.

David Noel, for one, wasn’t his usual fiery self for Ginebra, finishing with just 16 points after tossing in 29 in Game 5.

San Miguel, meanwhile, finally got Gabriel Freeman to play without being in foul trouble for the second half, and the result was 14 of the Best Import’s 23 points in the third period when the Beermen broke away.