A series of unfortunate routs
Chris Ross. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
There was something San Miguel Beer point guard Chris Ross said Wednesday night that might raise a few eyebrows considering how the last two games of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals have gone.
“We’re both in the Finals for a reason,” Ross said after drilling in 23 points highlighted by seven triples on the way to a 132-94 ripping of Barangay Ginebra that gave the Beermen a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven title series.
Ginebra surely hasn’t played like it had a reason to be battling it out for the trophy, at least not in the last two games.
And even the do-it-all point guard, who ended Game 3 with San Miguel’s medical team trying to contain blood from gushing out of a busted forehead courtesy of a wayward elbow from teammate Renaldo Balkman, couldn’t figure out why routs have taken place in the first three games of what was expected to be a tight series.
Confusing
“It’s just confusing,” Ross said of the results that have taken place in the first three games of the series, something which has never happened in the 43-year history of Asia’s pioneering pro league.
“It’s confusing to me and I’m sure it’s confusing to the coaches,” Ross went on. “Luckily for us, the (last two) games were in our favor.”
Ginebra’s Tim cone isn’t confused at all. He’s embarrassed.
And he needs to address a lot of things going into the fourth game at 7 p.m. Friday also at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
After winning Game 1, 127-99, and turning all pre-series forecasts around, Cone hasn’t gotten anything going for his Gin Kings in the last two games.
The 38-point losing margin is the all-time biggest in a Finals game, and for the first time since 2007, a team has lost two successive games by more than 20 points. The last time it happened, ironically, was when Ginebra won Games 3 and 4 of the Philippine Cup Finals against San Miguel.
Bloodbath
“I have nothing to say other than I am embarrassed by our performance,” Cone was quoted by Inquirer.net as saying as he left the Smart Araneta Coliseum in a huff. “They (Beermen) are too good for us.”
It certainly seems that way as the Beermen slowly peeled away from the Kings in the third quarter and turned Game 3 into an ugly bloodbath.
“This is another blowout, this is a championship game and we were expecting a close game,” said San Miguel’s Leo Austria after getting ahead in his battle with Cone. “I wasn’t expecting this to happen.”
Renaldo Balkman has taken over, June Mar Fajardo is as efficient as ever and the Beermen have gotten even more fearsome because top overall rookie pick Christian Standhardinger is in the San Miguel rotation and is contributing solid all-around numbers.
For Ginebra, losing Game 3 was quite simple to see after Cone got just two players in twin digits. San Miguel had six men scoring in double figures.
Before Game 4, the league will hand out the Best Import and Best Player of the Conference awards. Fajardo is expected to grab his seventh trophy—a league record. Balkman and Ginebra import Justin Brownlee are locked in a tight race for the Best Import award.
