MANILA, 3 July 2006 — Two Game 7s wound up as classics, and the teams many thought never had a chance to make the Finals are making their critics eat their words.
After being written off last Sunday with a 1-3 deficit staring them in the eye, the Purefoods Chunkee Giants completed a rise from the grave with a 90-89 win last night that put them into the finals of the PBA Philippine Cup.
And what better team to play another championship series against than Red Bull, a side labeled as the decided underdog against a San Miguel crew that steamrollered its way past the elimination round.
Red Bull guard Junthy Valenzuela canned a wide-open 15-foot jumper from left quartercourt to seal an 86-84 victory over the Beermen and shove the Barako opposite the Giants, who now stand in the way of a Red Bull sweep of the two titles staked this year.
“Red Bull and Purefoods have proven themselves to be the best teams this year, no matter what happens in our rematch,” said Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao, just moments after the win which sent him into his first all-local tournament championship series.
“This one could be special,” Guiao added. “But it’s still too early to talk about it. We have a championship series to prepare for.”
Purefoods almost blew a 19-point lead in the first half, needing an acrobatic Noy Castillo layup in the final 13 seconds to preserve the win and the Giants’ second straight appearance in a title series that could prove to be redemption for the team and coach Ryan Gregorio.
“When we were down 1-3, almost everybody had written us off,’’ said Gregorio after beating Alaska’s Tim Cone in a best-of-seven series for the second straight time. “But we just kept the faith and stayed together as a team.’’
The Purefoods victory also resurrected Alaska’s ghost of the past, which came in the 2002 Governors Cup championship playoffs where the Giants overhauled a 0-2 deficit to win in the seventh game.
But this one was sweeter, for all the obvious reasons. Kerby Raymundo stepped up when James Yap found difficulty hitting his mark, shooting 25 points for the night even as Castillo, the former The Citadel standout in the US NCAA, finished with 16.
It was an unexpected ending to a game the Giants dominated right from the start.
Raymundo shot six points in the first period, Yap five and Castillo nine as the Giants, who lost the Fiesta Conference crown to the Barako in seven games, stormed to a 29-14 lead after the first 12 minutes.
The best-of-seven championship series starts Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum. No team has a clear edge with only hunger and desire expected to make the difference.
Valenzuela’s jumper, which came at the buzzer, formalized the franchise’s fourth appearance in a title series, with both prior championships won with imports Antonio Lang and James Penny — both under Guiao.
