Conflict escalation

There is a term that describes the process by which conflicts grow in severity over time. It’s called conflict escalation, and when two teams in the PBA dispute the same trophy three times in the last four years, that heightened severity should have led to the birth of a rivalry.

Perhaps there are those that already see a rivalry between Barangay Ginebra and Meralco, two squads that have previously battled twice for the Governors’ Cup trophy and will go at it anew on Tuesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum. And that could be a good thing.

“Well I think [the PBA] … needs rivalries to grow the interest of the fans,” said Meralco head coach Norman Black.

But Black also happens to be one of those who doesn’t see Ginebra-Meralco as a rivalry. At least not yet.

“Normally, a rivalry means both teams are winning and they’ve won both championships [against each other] so in that sense it’s not much of a rivalry,” Black said during the Finals press conference at Eastwood City in Libis on Saturday. “I think we have to beat them a few more times before we actually call it a rivalry.”

“We do recognize that we lost to Ginebra twice—and we’ve been reminded of that over and over again.”

Those reminders are what Ginebra coach Tim Cone fears the most as he prepares to battle Meralco in a title showdown a third time.

“The idea that everybody’s saying and reminding them that we’ve done in the first two [series], that goes to their edge,” he said.

And the dredging up of past failures is one of the triggers of conflict escalation, which has made its presence mildly felt even before this looming Finals showdown.

The Kings won the first two titles by dealing the Bolts two of the most painful defeats in professional sports. A buzzer- beater in their first clash and a Game 7 in the second. When a third straight championship battle was foiled last season, both squads used the time off to reboot for another Finals run and the escalation began.

Meralco traded for big man Raymond Almazan in July, a move that could counter Ginebra’s edge in size.

“We have a bigger guy in the paint,” Black said.

About a month later, Cone had a Stanley Pringle.

“[Teams] can’t come in and just focus on Justin [Brownlee] anymore, and ‘put all of their eggs in one basket [defensively],’” Cone told the Inquirer.

But maybe teams can make Ginebra work hard a little bit more on the defensive end. Later in the year, Meralco added perimeter shooting by trading for Allein Maliksi.

And Black believes that this is no longer the Meralco that lost twice to Ginebra: “We have a different team. We’re probably more balanced this [year], a little bit stronger.”

But champions aren’t born on paper. Neither are rivalries. Escalation needs to exhibit itself where it matters the most to turn these season-capping title showdowns between the Kings and the Bolts into something more regular, more even: on the court.

All those additions have to result in actual performance, Cone said.

“There’s one of my favorite expressions: ‘As the challenge escalates, the need for teamwork or execution elevates,’” he added. “It’s going to come down to playing good basketball.”

“Offensively, defensively, we have to be prepared; we have to be able to attack whatever they’re doing defensively, defend anything they’re attacking you with,” Black said.

With that, maybe both teams will come up with a performance that, regardless of who wins, will end up with Black admitting Ginebra-Meralco is a rivalry that can be ranked as among the fiercest of all time.