Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
The drama was over even before it could gather ground and Barangay Ginebra’s LA Tenorio was quick to point out at what the task at hand is all about.
“Like how we treated (the last game), this should be a do-or-die game for us,” the cat-quick, heady floor leader of the Gin Kings said, referring to Game 4 of their PBA Governors’ Cup Finals against Meralco slated Friday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
He also owned up to the task of failing to provide the finishing kick for the Kings in that wild ending to Game 3.
“I feel that it was my responsibility, because I am the leader on the floor,” Tenorio said. “We expected them (Bolts) to come out and play desperate basketball, which is what happened.”
The 5-foot-8 guard doesn’t want to see another Meralco victory in their 7 p.m. showdown because he has already experienced first hand what it feels blowing a 2-0 lead and eventually losing the championship.
“That was in my rookie year, while playing for San Miguel,” Tenorio said. “I was very happy that we were already leading (2-0) before Ginebra won the last four games. I was devastated (then), and I don’t want that to happen again.”
“That’s why this (Game 4) should be do-or-die for us,” he went on. “Actually, I told (my teammates) that (the last game) was already do-or-die. We cannot afford to give them (Bolts) the confidence.”
Meralco already has that now, especially after Allen Durham tore the Ginebra defense to shreds when it mattered in Game 3.
The Bolts, though, will be without Ranidel de Ocampo, who tore a left calf muscle in the first quarter of Game 3.
It was an endgame that upset Cone and he reacted quite unexpectedly to a timeout called by counterpart Norman Black with 38 seconds left and the outcome already beyond doubt.
Cone refused to shake the hand of his fellow Grand Slam champion and did not talk to reporters later on. He issued an apology and said that “there is no one in the PBA I respect more than Norman Black.”
“I got caught up in the moment and could have handled it differently,” he said in a text message. “I apologize, and will do so to him (Black), personally.”
End of the drama. Now back to the action on the floor.