Deadlocked

PBA IMAGES

NLEX got Magnolia to fall for its game plan hook, line and sinker, running the Hotshots to the ground Friday night as the Road Warriors inched their way to what they have been shooting for right from the start: a PBA Philippine Cup Final Four series that goes the seven-game distance.

“It will be a toss-coin when that happens,” NLEX coach Yeng Guiao said after a 91-79 Game 4 win that squared their semifinal clash at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay. “Our objective has been to prolong this series and if we get to a Game 7, we might get lucky again.”

The Road Warriors lured the Hotshots into a frenetic pace all night long and took them out of their rhythm while Kiefer Ravena atoned for bungled charities in a sorry loss on Wednesday by shooting the lights out in one stretch in the fourth to pull this one out of the fire for NLEX.

“This was a do-or-die game for us,” Guiao said. “Sometimes we’re the ones who get lucky. Our shots went in, just like their shots went in in Game 3.”

The rookie Ravena finished with 20 points, 11 in the fourth—where he hit seven straight and nine of the Road Warriors 11 points at one point.

NLEX’s defense also bottled up the men it needed to, with Ian Sangalang held to just 15 and Paul Lee 11. Jio Jalalon finished with just 10 after erupting for 25 on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, San Miguel Beer shoots for the first Finals berth and make Barangay Ginebra—the team it defeated en route to a third straight all-Filipino crown last season—a footnote in its historic drive for a “four-peat.”

The Beermen try to close the Gin Kings out in Game 5 of their Final Four series Saturday at Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay with San Miguel coach Leo Austria giving a familiar history lesson to keep his team from falling into complacency in their 6:30 p.m. match.

“We lost a 3-1 lead to Ginebra while I was still a player at (defunct) Shell and we (San Miguel) came back from 0-3 down (to beat Alaska in the Finals here two years ago),” warned Austria.