PBA: Mixers seek 2-0 buffer vs Kings

By: Musong R. Castillo - 11 years ago

San Mig Coffee’s James Yap vs Ginebra’s Mark Caguioa. PBA Images

MANILA, Philippines — San Mig Coffee shoots for a commanding 2-0 lead over Barangay Ginebra Friday as their half of the PLDT MyDSL Philippine Cup Final Four series resumes at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Game time is 8 p.m. with the Mixers seeking a followup to their high-wire 85-83 series-opening victory Tuesday on Mark Barroca’s field goal—his only basket of the night—with 11.2 seconds left that capped the big San Mig fightback.

That was only the fifth loss for the Gin Kings this conference, and it was one which San Mig coach Tim Cone deemed most important for his Mixers since it gave him the chance to dictate the tempo of the best-of-seven series.

Cone has also managed to limit the productions of Ginebra’s twin towers—Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter—to tolerable levels while getting big games from Joe Devance, Yancy De Ocampo and Marc Pingris.

Of all the big men in this series, the 6-foot-9 De Ocampo is probably the least talked about. But that changed after his huge Game 1 effort.

Gilas wants McGee or Blatche

Meanwhile, Rep. Robbie Puno has filed bills in the House of Representatives to have either NBA veteran Javale McGee or Andrei Blatche suit up for the Gilas Pilipinas squad in the World Championship in August and the Asian Games in September.

National coach Chot Reyes also got the support of the PBA’s board of governors for additional players—if needed—for those two international events, with Gilas Pilipinas scheduled to start Monday practices after the Philippine Cup Finals.

The PBA has also agreed to shorten the championship series of the imports-flavored Commissioner’s Cup and Governors’ Cup to best-of-five affairs so that Gilas can start its preparations as early as July 15. The current season was originally scheduled to end on Aug. 13 at the latest.

Marcus Douthit has been the national team’s center for the last three seasons, but at the ripe age of 33, Reyes has started exploring other options to make the Filipinos competitive in the Worlds and in the Asiad in Inchon, South Korea.