There was no scrambling this time as defending champion Barangay Ginebra blasted all doubts on its worth and status as contender again with a masterful conquest of old rival Meralco at the start of their best-of-seven Governors’ Cup title series on Friday in Lucena City.
Asserting their tremendous height advantage and with Justin Brownlee more than holding his own against 2016 Best Import awardee Allen Durham, the Gin Kings overwhelmed the Bolts, 102-87, with a performance that belied their struggling advance in the semifinals against TNT KaTropa.
Brownlee, whose three-pointer at the buzzer completed a 4-2 series win by Ginebra over Meralco in last year’s finals, outscored Durham, 32-27, while the 7-footer Greg Slaughter and the high-leaping Japeth Aguilar combined for 29 against the Bolts, who came into the game well-rested after a three-game sweep of semifinal foe Star.
“We caught Meralco on a cold-shooting night,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone of the Bolts, the topnotcher of the eliminations with a 9-2 win-loss record who were held to their lowest total in the tournament since a 77-66 decision of Star in their opening semifinal encounter.
The Bolts actually put up a semblance of a fight in the third quarter when they moved within four at 71-75 after trailing by as many as 17 in the second quarter. But their guns went cold early in the last period even as the Kings responded with a 19-3 blast, 11 of them from Brownlee, to put the game away, 96-75, with still five minutes left.
A tight, closely fought game is expected, however, in Game 2 which was ongoing at press time at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Meanwhile, TNT announced a fine of $10,000 from his last salary on import Greg Rice Jr. for breaking rules of his contract with an unsportsmanlike display that led to his ejection late in the first quarter of Game 4 of its semifinal duel with Ginebra.
The PBA also slapped a fine of P26,000 on Rice, who was ejected for shoving Ginebra Kevin Ferrer down to the floor then throwing the ball at him. He went to the dugout after arguing with team officials, but was later caught by TV cameras leaving the playing venue laughing and seemingly in a good mood.
The Rice incident was nothing compared with San Miguel Beer’s misadventure with the import they picked to replace Wendell McKines. Terik Bridgeman scored only two points in 21 minutes as Alaska ended an eight-game slump to deal on SMB the unexpected loss that started the downfall of the grand slam-seeking Beermen.
SMB recovered to finish with a 7-4 win-loss record after the eliminations but landed No. 6 among the eight quarterfinalists. Minus the Alaska setback, the Beermen would have ended at 8-3 and No. 2 among the top four qualifiers that will enjoy a twice-to-beat bonus in the playoffs by virtue of earlier wins over TNT and Ginebra, which also posted 8-3 marks. Paired in a must-win situation against the Kings in the quarters, the Beermen collapsed and kissed their grand slam bid goodbye.