Game 7 will be a war, says Jimmy Alapag

Jimmy Alapag of Talk 'N Text watches as teammate Japeth Aguilar blocks the shot attempted by Alex Cabagnot of Petron Blaze. PBA IMAGE/ Nuki Sabio

MANILA, Philippines—It doesn’t take an expert to know that when the last six games have gone down the wire, Game 7 will be no different.

Reigning MVP Jimmy Alapag sums it best: “It will be another war.”

Neither team has won more than four points in the grind-it-out series and fittingly it will end in a decider on Wednesday.

“This series has been so close and as you guys have seen, it has really come down to who makes the last basket and unfortunately, the (first) four games we were coming in the short end,” said Alapag. “And we dug ourselves a huge hole by falling down 3-1.”

Alapag, who missed all but five games in the elimination round due to a nagging injury, broke his silence with a resounding performance last Sunday to carry Talk ‘N Text out of harms way and into a last man standing affair with rival Petron Blaze.

The five-foot-nine playmaker hit clutch plays en route to 29 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists. Alapag, always steady at the stripe, also went 10-of-10 from that area.

“But I told our guys, no matter what, we just got to keep fighting, this it’s still our championship until somebody takes it away and we’re going to fight and fight and fight until we can’t fight anymore,” Alapag added.

Asked about how he liked his team’s chances going into the last game of the series: “It’s 50-50, it could go either way.”

“You have two great teams, great players on both sides, two great coaches and guys are out there fighting tooth-and-nail. And it has really come down to who is making plays in the end game and for us to fall down 3-1, we found a way to climb out of the hole and with a chance to get game 7,” said Alapag.

The Boosters had veterans Danny Ildefonso and Alex Cabagnot nailing crucial baskets for them time and time again and last time it was Alapag who came through.

And so the question lingers: who will wear the cape and play the hero in Game 7?