Veteran guards Mark Caguioa of Ginebra (left) and Jimmy Alapag of Meralco take on each other in last night’s Game 5.—AUGUST DELA CRUZ
After moving on the cusp of ending an eight-year wait for a PBA championship last night, Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone is bracing for what he says would be the toughest game of his Gin Kings’ title clash with Meralco for the Governors’ Cup.
And it has nothing to do at all with a Game 7.
Ginebra got the chance to close out Meralco after a huge start keyed a 92-81 win for a 3-2 lead before a virtual sea of humanity at Smart Araneta Coliseum, with the multititled Cone describing Game 6 on Wednesday as “without a doubt, the hardest thing [to win].”
The Gin Kings buried the Bolts in a hole so deep that even doggedly determined Meralco couldn’t climb out of.
Ginebra also won back-to-back games for the first time in these playoffs to gather some momentum when it goes for the jugular in three nights.
“Closing a series is the hardest thing to do,” Cone told reporters. “It’s tougher than winning a Game 7. A great team (Meralco) with its back to the wall is pretty hard to beat.”
Ginebra led by 21 points in the second period and spent the rest of the game thwarting every Meralco comeback to post the most lopsided win of the close series thus far.
“If you ask me, it’s not just the bad start,” Meralco’s Norman Black said.
“I thought we just played a bad game from start to finish. They played aggressive. We got it taken to us by Ginebra, but it’s not over yet.”
Justin Brownlee keyed the furious Ginebra start, shooting 20 of his 29 points in the first half before Cone got timely hits from several men, including the 40-year-old Jayjay Helterbrand, who drilled two critical treys and was splendid for the second straight night.
Allen Durham struggled big time and finished with just 20 points for the Bolts, which Black said was “the key to our demise.”
“Other players have to step up and score,” Black said of his locals.
“Tonight, their defense against Allen really shut him down, that was basically our demise.”
All Lee-way
Meanwhile, Paul Lee will meet with Star management for the first time today and could very well find out that he will end his PBA career as a Hotshot.
Lee, the 2011 Rookie of the Year labeled as Rain or Shine’s franchise player before the Elasto Painters surprisingly dealt him away for James Yap last week, will no doubt be getting the maximum money possible but will get a tenure never heard of before.
“However long he wants it,” Star team manager Rene Pardo told a handful of reporters in Filipino, when asked the length of contract management is ready to offer the very talented point guard out of University of the East in the UAAP.
Guiao departure
Rain or Shine’s nucleus, which was responsible for taking the Painters to a streak of nine straight Final Four appearances before it was snapped in the ongoing conference, has been dismantled, first with the departure of coach Yeng Guiao.
Guiao, who won two import-spiced championships with the Painters, will be taking over NLEX in a celebrated acquisition that was only drowned when Star and Rain or Shine came to terms on the deal for the Lee-Yap swap.
When Guiao left, JR Quiñahan was the first player traded away by the Painters who, in return, acquired veteran Jay Washington from GlobalPort.