Odds even as Kings, Mixers break 2-2 tie
MANILA, Philippines — Barangay Ginebra and San Mig Coffee break a 2-2 tie in their PLDT MyDSL Philippine Cup semifinals series Saturday, with the Gin Kings shooting to become the first side to win back-to-back games in these playoffs at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City.
Game time is 3:30 p.m. with Ginebra seeking to follow up on the 88-85 Game 4 win they laboriously carved out last Wednesday.
But clearly, there is no side with momentum going to Saturday’s Game 5.
The Kings, playing big in the waning seconds, hammered out Wednesday night’s victory after blowing a 16-point lead late in the third period.
“We were lucky to win this game,” Ginebra coach Ato Agustin told reporters Wednesday night.
The Mixers used an 18-0 run bridging the third and fourth quarters to zoom to a four-point lead heading into the final five minutes of Game 4.
But the usually resilient Mixers failed to finish off the Gin Kings, who were a lot better in the stretch this time, far from the squad that got outplayed thoroughly by their foes at crunchtime in their first two losses.
Painters gunning for jugular
The winner of this series will advance to face Rain or Shine, who ousted Petron for the first finals slot on Friday.
Greg Slaughter and LA Tenorio have been the most consistent performers for the Kings against the Mixers, and both will again be relied upon heavily by Agustin and the rest of the coaching staff today.
Japeth Aguilar, the 6-foot-9 beanpole, has struggled. Though he made a crucial follow-up in the dying seconds of Game 4, Aguilar has so far failed to come up with the numbers that he churned out with regularity in the elimination round.
Aguilar’s scoring dips
The other half of Ginebra’s high-scoring “twin towers,” Aguilar managed just seven points, well below his tournament average of 18.2.
James Yap, the former two-time MVP, awoke from a scoring slump by pumping in 20 points in Game 4, a solid performance that kept chief reliever Peter June Simon on the bench.
San Mig needs to contain Slaughter if the Mixers want to take the series edge after today’s game. Rafi Reavis, Yancy De Ocampo and rookie Ian Sangalang will be given that task.
Marc Pingris will continue to be the backbone of the San Mig defense, while Mark Barroca and rookie Justin Melton are again expected to play major minutes together to befuddle their backcourt counterparts.
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