MANILA, 19 July 2007 — Willie Miller showed up to play, and the PBA Fiesta Cup title series many said would go the distance is headed that way.
The 6-foot firebrand, virtually absent for Alaska the last time out, carried the Aces all night long with career-high 37 points last night on the way to a 121-110 Game 6 victory over Talk ’N Text at the Araneta Coliseum that took the best-of-seven, season-ending championship to the full route.
Miller scored in double digits in each of the first three periods, including 13 in the second quarter when the Aces erased a 12-point deficit by opening up with a crippling 22-0 run that now stands as the second biggest blast of all time.
Only the 32-0 bomb detonated by the 1991 Barangay Ginebra Gins in the First Conference Finals was the biggest in league history. That run, which erased a five-point Shell lead in Game 5, actually touched off the Gins’ rise from 1-3 down to win the best-of-seven series.
“People said a lot of bad things about him (after Game 5), myself included,” Cone said of Miller, who scored just six points in 33 minutes of a 107-104 loss Sunday night. “He was just awesome tonight. That’s the mark of a true superstar. “All he has to do is do it again for us on Friday.”
Game 7, one which Talk ‘N Text has never won in two previous tries, will be tomorrow at the Cuneta Astrodome, a venue rich in history for Alaska but an arena where the Aces have never won in all tournament long.
The Phone Pals, whose last title came in the 2002 All-Filipino, were held scoreless for the first 6:24 of the second quarter and were without a field goal until the final 1:56 of the period when JJ Sullinger completed a three-point play. Talk ’N Text, which lost those two Game 7s after opening up 3-2 leads over Shell in the 1998 Governors Cup and opposite Red Bull in the 2002 Commissioner’s Cup, misfired its first 10 shots of the second quarter and turned the ball over five times.
“I was really impressed when they came up because they (Phone Pals) were so pumped,” Cone said. “But I knew that it would be tough to sustain the emotion they had and we just made a great effort of coming back. “But all we did was take it to a Game 7,” Cone added. “We haven’t accomplished anything yet.”
Alaska opened up a 22-point lead at 98-76 with 11:04 to go after a Rosell Ellis basket, and the Phone Pals were only able to chop that deficit down to nine points at best after a JJ Sullinger split with 3:50 to play made it 99-108.
Ellis went on to finish with 22 points, including two free throws in the next Alaska possession that restored an 11-point lead and effectively silenced the Phone Pals with just over three minutes left.
“Boy, we played a great game tonight,” Cone added.
Mac Cardona instigated the hot Talk ‘N Text start, shooting 15 points in the first period to finish with 29. Sullinger, despite being held to just five points in the first half, still wound up with 24 and nine rebounds.
Another player whose effort went to naught was guard Egay Billones, who came off the bench to shoot 21. Fifteen of his total came in the fourth quarter as he tried to rally the Phone Pals back together with Sullinger.
Nic Belasco finished with 14 points in his most solid performance for Alaska in the series, while Reynel Hugnatan had 20, including 10 in the fourth period which helped douse cold water on several Talk ‘N Text fightbacks.
Meanwhile, Cone, Derrick Pumaren of Talk’N Text and Barangay Ginebra’s Jong Uichico were all nominated for the year-end Coach of the Year award which the PBA Press Corps will hand out on Aug. 12. Gary David leads the candidates vying for the Comeback Player of the Year, while Phone Pals representative and board chairman Ricky Vargas and commissioner Noli Eala were nominated for the Executive of the Year trophy.
At the end of each year, the men and women covering the beat name the outstanding performers in their respective fields, awards which the league doesn’t hand out. The Baby Dalupan trophy will go to the Coach of the Year, named in honor of “The Maestro” himself, who coached the legendary Redmanizers to a Grand Slam in 1977 and who owns the most titles by any coach in the league with 15.
