Texters gun for clincher tonight

TALK ‘N TEXT has Purefoods on the ropes for the first time in two years, and the Tropang Texters would like nothing more than erase a full season of disappointments with wrapping up this battle to regain their focus.

The Texters got waylaid three times in Purefoods’—then known as San Mig Coffee—Grand Slam run last season. They got booted out of the Philippine Cup quarterfinals, the Finals of this conference and the Final Four of the Governors’ Cup.

Jong Uichico, who served as an assistant to Texters coach Norman Black last year, said he can’t completely recall the Texters’ misfortunes last season, probably because one tends to forget the bad and remember all that’s good.

“I am not exactly sure,” said Uichico in reply to an Inquirer query after a 111-107 Game 3 victory on Thursday night that put the Texters on the brink of advancing opposite Rain or Shine in the best-of-seven championship series.

“[What I know is] we have one more game to win,” he said. “And we can’t be complacent because we know the capabilities of Purefoods.”

Game time is 5 p.m. at Smart Araneta Coliseum with the Star Hotshots, who are clinging on to the second of three titles they won last year, facing a do-or-die game for the 12th time since last season.

Purefoods, needless to say, survived all 10 KO matches on the way to a sweet Triple Crown sweep last season.

Jason Castro is literally the biggest headache the Purefoods coaching staff is having at the moment.

The fleet-footed national team guard was big in the last two Talk ‘N Text wins. He hit 27 points on Thursday night after making his last seven attempts from beyond three-point range, where the Texters shot a fiery 19-for-32 as a team.

“There’s not much to say, really,” Purefoods coach Tim Cone said. “We need to find a way to cool them down if we want to get to Game 5 and we’re working on it.”

Talk ‘N Text beat the Hotshots in the last two games where Purefoods was also at its best. The Game 3 winning margin is not indicative of how dominant the Texters were in the final quarter.

Ivan Johnson has kept his temper in check and is proving to be a formidable force in the middle for the Texters.

Purefoods has been all about Denzel Bowles in this series, and James Yap and Marc Pingris have been relatively silent. PJ Simon was the biggest local for Cone on Thursday with 18 points.