MANILA, 26 December 2007 — For the eighth time this season, defending champion Barangay Ginebra was without Mark Caguioa.
And for the first 12 minutes of their game against Purefoods last night, the Gin Kings were looking at taking another blowout loss just like the 37-point defeat they suffered to the Giants in the first round.
But recalling their trademark never-say-die attitude produced another wondrous result on Christmas Day for the Gin Kings.
Ginebra came back from a 19-point deficit in the first quarter to deny Purefoods of at least a tie for an outright semifinals berth, posting a gripping 100-98 win and keeping alive its own hopes of earning a crack at an automatic slot for the quarterfinals berth in the Philippine Cup before 18,875 roaring fans at the Araneta Coliseum.
The game looked like a sleeper when Purefoods erected a 30-11 lead late in the opening quarter but suddenly turned into one thrilling match when Sunday Salvacion, Jay-Jay Helterbrand, Eric Menk and Ronald Tubid stepped into the offensive fray.
When the game went into its last 12 minutes, the Gin Kings were just 67-72 away and were able to grab the lead at 92-91 on a floater from Tubid in the last 2:01. And in a match where nerves are tested and the crowd very much on their side, the Gin Kings are hard to stop - sometimes impossible.
James Yap’s shot was partially blocked by Tubid that led to a Purefoods loose ball foul, Rommel Adducul missed two free throws and when Kerby Raymundo put Purefoods on top for the last time at 93-92, Salvacion had the answer. With an open look at the basket from the left quartercourt, Salvacion never hesitated launching the three-point shot. The ball swooshed in as Ginebra seized a 95-93 lead with 57.4 seconds left to play, and the Gin Kings went four-of-five from the line from there.
Ginebra now has a 7-9 (win-loss) record and still has two more games left before it can see whether it will have to go through the brutal wild card phase or make it to the quarterfinals outright.
Magnolia and Talk ‘N Text are the teams directly above them in the standings at 8-7, with Alaska at 9-7. Mathematically, the Gin Kings may yet be able to advance to the Last Six depending on the outcome of the other games. “It’s a good Christmas,” said Jong Uichico, the Ginebra coach. For Purefoods, the loss was the fourth with 11 wins to show, but it hardly shattered its drive to be the first ball club to step in the Final Four.
The Giants still have three games left in their elimination round itinerary, and could secure the playoff they want with only a win or a loss by either Sta. Lucia or Red Bull in their respective remaining assignments.
Salvacion and Eric Menk went on to finish with 21 points apiece to lead Ginebra. Tubid added 18 points and Jay-Jay Helterbrand collected six points and seven assists for the Gin Kings, who played without Caguioa because of a right knee injury (MCL). Alaska coach Tim Cone, meantime, was at a loss for words on how to describe the 100-77 win his Aces pulled off against erstwhile solo second running Red Bull. “I’ll tell you what...I’m totally surprised,” said Cone. Alaska scored the first 11 points of the game and never looked back. It led largest at 34 (97-63) on a basket by the seldom-used Aaron Aban with 3:31 left to play and notched its ninth win in 16 games to still pump life into its outright semifinals berth bid.
The glaring part of the match was not how the Aces shot, but rather how atrocious the Bulls were in finding their range.
The ball club that was never expected to be in the upper half of the standings only converted 23 of their 84 attempts from the field goal for a shocking 27.4 percent clip, and made its overall performance even worse by going 23-of-41 from the free throw line. The Bulls also didn’t have the fire they are known to possess. They only ended up with seven fastbreak points, and allowed the Aces to score 22 points on turnovers alone.
This was the first time that Alaska won on Christmas Day after three attempts. The first one was the most unmemorable, the Aces losing the championship to Coca-Cola in Game Four of the best-of-five 2002 All-Filipino Cup.
Three years later in the elimination round of the Fiesta Cup, the Aces absorbed an 89-96 loss to Ginebra. Not only was the setback so embarrassing, the defeat crippled Red Bull’s chances of making it to the semifinals outright. The Bulls fell to 9-6 (win-loss) in a tie with Sta. Lucia Realtors, the team that dealt them their biggest loss in this season-opening tournament, 104-78. Mike Cortez led the Aces with 19 points on 8-of-16 shooting and pulled down nine rebounds. Five other scored in double digits, with John Ferriols contributing 15 points and the same number of rebounds in 25 minutes of action.
In contrast, only Cyrus Baguio was able to submit production in twin digits with 18. Junthy Valenzuela was a big flop, going 1-of-7 from the field to finish with only two points.
