Grand Slam talk as San Mig Coffee seals 2nd title of season

Now, there is a reason to talk Grand Slams.
Using a whirlwind fourth quarter on Thursday night, San Mig Coffee rallied to post a 100-91 Game 4 win over Talk ‘N Text to win the PBA Commissioner’s Cup and bag the second jewel to a coveted season sweep at the packed PhilSports Arena in Pasig.
Marc Barroca and former two-time MVP James Yap took turns in hitting the shots that stung the Tropang Texters in the final 12 minutes, combining for all but nine of the Mixers’ output in that stretch to seal a 3-1 series win.
San Mig’s victory didn’t come expectedly, more so after seeing the Mixers trail, 1-17 in the first five minutes and by 17 after less than a minute in the third.
But Cone saw his wards respond to a severe dressing down at the halftime break, as San Mig methodically worked its way back in the game before playing the final six minutes almost flawlessly.
The win also wrecked what had been a dream tournament for the Texters, who won their first 13 games heading into the Finals but went on to close out their conference with a two-game losing streak.
Talk ‘N Text scored just six points in the final 5:10 and blew the last of several formidable leads it had – 85-76 after a Ranidel De Ocampo triple with 6:50 to go – as the Texters scored in trickles from there.
“I am just amazed,” Cone, who improved his all-time record for most championships won with a 17th title, said.
“I didn’t think they could do it,” he went on. “I have given up on them so many times in the past. They battled and battled and everything went our way in the last six minutes.”
It was the 12th championship for the San Mig-Purefoods franchise as Cone now has won his last four with the Mixers since coming in during the 2011 season.
And the biggest one could come before this season ends, as the Mixers have brought back Marqus Blakely to lead their defense of the Governors’ Cup and complete just the fifth Grand Slam in league history.
Crispa did the trick twice, in 1976 and in 1983; Norman Black, the coach of the Texters, had his with San Miguel Beer in 1989. If completed, Cone will be the first coach to pull it out twice, counting his 1996 caper with Alaska.
“That’s the last thing we are going to talk about as a team, that would put tremendous pressure on us,” said Cone.
Barroca was like a man possessed, making minced meat out of the defense of former MVP Jimmy Alapag to toss in some of the most crucial baskets in the fourth period.
Yap, meanwhile, like he did in a 77-75 Game 3 win, hit the dagger triple with exactly two minutes remaining that ushered the Mixers to a 93-89 lead that proved enough to hold till the end.
Incidentally, Yap, because of his Game 3 heroics and after leading all San Mig shooters in a 95-80 series-opening win, nipped Barroca for the Finals MVP trophy handed out by the PBA Press Corps after the game.
From that nine-point deficit, Joe Devance touched off the swashbuckling San Mig finish with a three-point play off KG Canaleta and the Mixers edged ahead for good with a Barroca one-hander off Alapag for 90-89.
Yap then hit that triple and Barroca followed with a layup after Jason Castro, the Best Player of the Conference winner, lost the ball on the other end while going for a drive for Talk ‘N Text, 95-89, 1:32 left.
It was all over but the shouting from there and when the final buzzer sounded, multi-colored balloons fell from the rafters that signalled the superiority of this San Mig team that looked very marginal in the eliminations before gathering steam near the homestretch.