MANILA, 8 February 2007 — San Miguel put itself into the PBA Philippine Cup Finals riding the heroics of two of its old mainstays, and not those who were recruited to actually help take the Beermen there.
Danny Seigle and Dondon Hontiveros each scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and combined for 67 points in 119-115 Game 7 victory over Red Bull last night that closed out their highly-physical semifinal series at the Araneta Coliseum.
Hontiveros was hitting his shots from the outside and Seigle was making a mockery of all the inside defenses thrown at him as the Beermen wrested complete control in the second half for a 4-3 series victory.
It was a game that will undoubtedly erase all the bad memories of the last Game 7 that Hontiveros played.
Last year, in the same stage of the same tournament against the very same team, Hontiveros went scoreless and could not help carry Beermen past the semifinals.
His 31 points in the same number of minutes last night has obviously made up for that.
“I wasn’t really thinking about that at all,” Hontiveros told Arab News later. “I was just so focused trying to help my team win. There was no personal vindication as far as I’m concerned. The most important thing is that we’re in the Finals.”
San Miguel thus sealed a dream title series, as the Beermen clash with sister team Barangay Ginebra in another best-of-seven showdown starting with Game 1 tomorrow.
The Gin Kings eliminated Talk ‘N Text, 4-2, in their separate series on Sunday.
“All I can say is that the series will be very exciting, that’s for sure,” San Miguel coach Chot Reyes said. “It is only now that it (title clash with Ginebra) has started to sink in. I never thought of Ginebra before this game because I wanted to win this first.”
Red Bull will now have to wait another year to win an all-Filipino title for the first time in franchise history after losing a Game 7 for the first time in its PBA existence.
The Barako were 3-0 coming into last night’s game, the last Game 7 win coming at the expense of San Miguel last year. Red Bull, though, lost in six games to the Purefoods Chunkee Giants.
“I told the players that this game is going to be won by something deeper,” Reyes added. “I don’t know if it is soul, heart of character. I just knew that it would take something like that to beat a team like Red Bull.”
The final score was not a reflection of how in control San Miguel was in the second half, as it led by as many as 17 points before the Barako went on a fouling spree to creep closer.
San Miguel started its breakaway early in the third period with a 10-0 run that turned a 69-66 deficit into a 76-69 lead. The Beermen’s first twin-digit spread came courtesy of Hontiveros, who scored on a drive with 3:41 to play for 84-74.
Larry Fonacier shoved the Barako to within 89-98 after a free throw, but Hontiveros thrust two daggers into the Barako’s collective hearts by nailing two triples from the same spot in a 36-second span that opened up the game, 104-90 heading into the final 6:48.
The Barako kept themselves in the game and actually held the lead for the last time with that three-point margin after an 8-0 run capped by a Fonacier trey.
But the Barako aided their doom by muffing important charities — seven in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter — as San Miguel scooted away for good.
This will also mark just the first time in the last three tournaments that Red Bull will not be playing in the title series. The Barako lost to Purefoods in this conference last year but won the import-flavored Fiesta Conference with James Penny.
Meanwhile, the league has devised new procedures in determining the candidates for individual awards recently in an effort to truly identify who the best players are. A new formula in voting will also be implemented as the league did away with the age-old practice that has made for unpopular winners in the past.
The candidates will now be determined by their statistical points averages compared to the old days when it was a cumulative race which gave players from teams that play more games a distinct advantage.
The powerful four-man committee, which used to be made up of a representative of the PBA Photographers group, Scoop, the TV coveror and the Philippine Sportswriters Association, has been disbanded.
Save for the TV coveror, in this case ABC Channel 5, the others in the four-man committee will now vote in the media category, which will comprise 30% of the outcome.
Another 30% will come from the statistical points race, 25% from the players’ votes, 10 from ABC 5 and 5% from the Commissioner’s Office, which will, for the first time, help in naming the individual winners.
Also, each of the voters will be asked to put their top three choices in the MVP, Best Player, Rookie of the Year and Best Import categories, and they will carry corresponding values of 60 points for first, 30 for second and 10 for third place.
