Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
A Barangay Ginebra side that has momentum in the PBA Governors’ Cup title series tries to more or less put Meralco away when Game 3 gets off the ground Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
After winning the first two games in contrasting styles, the Gin Kings take the floor at 7 p.m. looking to sound the death knell on the hard-fighting Bolts and move closer to becoming just the fourth team to retain the season-ending championship.
“We still have a lot of work to do. We won two straight games and it only shows that they (Bolts) can also win two straight and tie this thing up,” Ginebra coach Tim Cone said.
“They still have a lot of punches to throw at us,” Cone said. “I think that extra [rest] day is valuable for the teams. They (Bolts) got the chance to refresh and come out and play a lot better and a lot harder.”
Meralco actually played a lot better and as hard as it could in Game 2, leading by six going into the final six minutes before sputtering with just a free throw to show the rest of the way.
Coach Norman Black has been pleased with the effort, but falling 0-2 behind against such a formidable opponent certainly puts them in a very uncomfortable place as the Bolts face a one-miss-you-die situation from hereon.
Only six of 36 teams that have fallen 0-2 behind in a title series have won the crown.
“Most of the teams down 0-2 have not won the championship,” Black admitted after an 86-76 loss Sunday night. “But we saw a team 0-3 down to win the championship. Until they (Gin Kings) win that fourth game, we will go out there fighting.”
The key for Ginebra thus far in the series is being able to hold down Allen Durham from dominating, with LA Tenorio playing brilliantly in holding the Kings together offensively and coming up with big shots of his own.