Ginebra ends SMB Grand Slam dream

There is an age-old, hardly-discussed urban myth going around the PBA that whenever sister teams San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra clash, one would give way to serve the need of the other.

The Gin Kings debunked that in a big way Wednesday night.

Playing strong out of the gates, Ginebra thrashed San Miguel Beer, 104-84, crushing the Beermen’s dreams of scoring another Grand Slam while securing a slot in the Governors Cup semifinals.

“We kinda hammered it down tonight,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone. “We are great rivals, San Miguel and us.”

And as rivals, the Beermen weren’t going to get help from Cone, who has authored two of the five Grand Slam feats in the league—with Alaska in 1996 and San Mig Coffee in 2014.

Before a big crowd at Mall of Asia Arena expecting action and drama, Ginebra proved that it would not hold its punches to help San Miguel achieve their own double triple-crown dream.

In case anyone forgot, the Kings are the defending champions of the tournament and want to keep their crown.

“I’ve said before that you can’t win a championship without facing San Miguel,” said Cone. “And the best way to beat them is when you have a twice to beat advantage.”

“You can’t imagine how relieved I am right now,” added the classy, eloquent mentor. “It would be very hard to face San Miguel in a do-or-die playoff.”

Ginebra will now await the winner of the Rain or Shine-TNT quarterfinal showdown, which went into sudden death.

Giving its shooters a long leash, the Elasto Painters bested the Texters, 106-102, earlier in the day.