PBA Finals: LA Tenorio, Ginebra eye strong start in Game 7

LA Tenorio. PBA IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines—LA Tenorio is hoping that Barangay Ginebra can atone for its struggles the last time and win the PBA Commissioner’s Cup crown before a big crowd that is expected to gather at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan on Sunday.

“We’ll be more ready,” Tenorio said after the Gin Kings blew their first chance at finishing off the Bay Area Dragons when they fell 87-84 last Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Ginebra was forced to chase Bay Area for most of the game after the Dragons came out with a strong start coupled with Myles Powell firing on all angles despite being limited to a conference-low 29 points in his return.

As Tenorio and the rest struggled, Ginebra had to lean on import Justin Brownlee, whose 37 points helped erase Bay Area’s 12-point lead at one point and even led by seven early in the fourth.

Christian Standhardinger and Japeth Aguilar also did their share in that turnaround, but Ginebra couldn’t sustain it as Powell and Bay Area charged back.

“Hopefully, we won’t have another slow start,” he said. “We can’t do that against a Bay Area team and give them a good rhythm early. We have to be aggressive at the start and constantly involve the crowd.”

Tenorio failed to score a single point after missing all five attempts as he played despite sustaining a groin injury in Game 5.

His appearance extended his record streak of consecutive games to 737. But a seventh championship in a Ginebra jersey is the statistic that all matters for Tenorio.

“It’s a 50-50 chance in Game 7, so we’ll see what will happen,” Tenorio said.

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