MORE than clinching its 14th PBA title with no less than a sweep, Alaska takes to the floor today looking to regain old glory under a coach owner Fred Uytengsu gambled on following the sudden departure of Tim Cone for greener pastures last year.
Hot start, cold start—it really didn’t matter. Alaska still has complete mastery of Barangay Ginebra. The Aces wiped away an early seven-point deficit with ease and all but crushed the spirits of the Gin Kings with a 104-90 win last night in their PBA Commissioner’s Cup title playoffs at Mall of Asia Arena.
BECAUSE Cebuana Lhuillier joined as title sponsor of the ongoing PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals, league fans are speculating if the Cebu-based company owned by businessman-sportsman Jean Henri Lhuillier is ready to move up to the next level.
Alaska continued to be the bane of Ginebra’s existence this conference on Friday. The Aces reprised their game one win over the Kings, but in a slightly different manner as last Wednesday, 104-90, on Friday in the 2013 PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Alaska coach Luigi Trillo believes his Aces didn’t get anything other than a 1-0 lead by winning Game 1 of their PBA Commissioner’s Cup title series with Barangay Ginebra.
Alaska couldn’t have started any better, Barangay Ginebra couldn’t have come out any worse and Game 1 of the much-hyped PBA Commissioner’s Cup title series ended emphatically in favor of the Aces at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Barangay Ginebra didn’t need its trademark comeback on this one. The Gin Kings posted a wire-to-wire 111-103 triumph over walking wounded Talk ‘N Text last night to book the second title series slot in the Cebuana Lhuillier-PBA Commissioner’s Cup before another overflow crowd at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
CALVIN Abueva took charge in the fourth quarter, spearheading an Alaska comeback for an 83-78 victory over San Mig Coffee at Smart Araneta Coliseum that dethroned the Mixers and sent the Aces to the Finals of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
Alaska hasn’t beaten San Mig Coffee in nine straight tries. But that was before the Aces won three straight in the best-of-five semifinals series to dethrone the defending 2013 PBA Commissioner’s Cup champion Mixers.
PLAYING in a do-or-die game for the third time in close to a month, Barangay Ginebra did what it is traditionally very good at: Survive.
Playing with renewed confidence sparked by a new go-to guy, Talk ‘N Text goes for the jugular against Barangay Ginebra today and the first title series slot in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
TALK ‘N Text will go for speed and scoring while sacrificing size today when it unveils a shorter import against Barangay Ginebra in the third game of their deadlocked PBA Commissioner’s Cup Final Four series at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Alaska finally won one over San Mig Coffee and made former coach Tim Cone miss his pre-game prediction of a “magnificent battle” by a mile.
