Black: Credit to Ginebra for counterattack

Meralco head coach Norman Black. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Game 4 of the 2016 PBA Governors’ Cup Finals had been a tale of two quarters for the Bolts.

The Bolts fought back from 16 down with a telling 32-4 tear to take a 74-58 lead at the end of third, only to see that dissipate as Ginebra staged a 25-4 counterattack of its own in the fourth.

“We made a run to get back in the game, but they just countered the run actually,” coach Norman Black as Meralco missed chance to go up 3-1 after the 88-86 loss to Ginebra on Friday.

Without Allen Durham on the bench, Ginebra’s once deadly duo of Jayjay Helterband and Mark Caguioa turned back time and ignited a run that got everyone at the Big Dome on its feet.

By the time Durham checked back in, the momentum was completely on the Gin Kings’ side.

“Most of that run happened when I took Durham out of the game and the momentum changed immediately once he went to the bench. When he came back, we weren’t able to get the momentum back for the rest of the game,”
he said.

Meralco still actually had a shot to steal the game after LA Tenorio bungled his freethrows and failed to make it a two-possession game with still over 7 ticks left.

But newly crowned Rookie of the Year Chris Newsome was forced to hoist up a shot in their final possession, something that wasn’t by design.

“We got the play what we wanted, but Newsome didn’t pass the ball to Allen Durham,” Black said. “They switched, we got the matchup we wanted when (Justin) Brownlee switched to Newsome, but he made a turnover a couple plays earlier, trying to pass the ball to AD. So maybe, he felt a little bit hesitant to pass the ball again, that’s why he was left a forced shot in the end.”

The Grand Slam-winning mentor isn’t placing the blame on Newsome, though, believing Meralco should have fired a knockout punch to start the fourth.

But that proved to be tough against Ginebra’s sense of urgency.

“Give them a lot of credit. They knew how important this game was and they came out and countered our run,” he said.