MANILA: Jay-Jay Helterbrand did some of the coaching in secret, and Barangay Ginebra coach Jong Uichico admitted his point guard’s move was key why the Gin Kings triumphed in a magnificent way.
The defending champions came charging back from as many as 13 points down in the second quarter last night and then ripped San Miguel in the fourth period for a 116-103 victory and a 2-1 lead in their Fiesta Cup title series at the Araneta Coliseum.
A crowd of almost 14,000 roared in approval at the start of the third quarter, when the Kings methodically nibbled away at that deficit before zooming ahead for good with a brilliant start in the payoff frame that gave them back momentum heading into the crucial fourth game on Wednesday. “I said yes because what I was doing wasn’t working,” Uichico told scribes, who tried to squeeze out the ploy from him.
“I thank the players for something that we did in the second half, especially Jay-Jay. It wasn’t me that had the game plan today.”
Uichico initially refused to reveal what the ploy was, relenting later on and telling reporters that it was Helterbrand’s suggestion of playing Willie Wilson which did the trick for them.
San Miguel had dominated the first half, scoring 61 points in the first two periods alone with Jay Washington scoring 18 of his 22 by creating so many mismatches underneath which Ginebra couldn’t answer.
Wilson ‘s entry at the start of the third period changed all that, as the San Miguel forward was held down to just four points in the second half.
And while Wilson was working hard on defense, David Noel was wrecking havoc on the offensive end, shooting 14 of his 34 points in the final period and finishing with 10 rebounds and 11 assists in the first triple double of a Finals series dating back to Game 3 of last year’s title playoffs here.
San Miguel coach Siot Tanquingcen, though, refused to acknowledge the defensive job that Wilson played on Washington as the reason why his Beermen blew control and went down in flames to once again trail in the series.
“Partly, they were able to hold down J-Wash, yes,” Tanquingcen said.
“But we basically shot ourselves in the foot when we allowed them 40 points in the fourth quarter. You can’t win a (championship series) game by allowing teams to shoot that many.
“The concern wasn’t J-Wash being held down to four points in the second half,” he added. “The issue is that we didn’t play our defense right. We have a lot of guys to step up offensively anyway.”
Tanquingcen also blasted his team for committing eight turnovers in the fourth quarter alone, which was more than half of the 15 they had the entire night.
Still, it was a victory to gawk at for Ginebra, with Uichico even taking time to get back at several experts who predicted at the start of the series that they would only be able to win one game against San Miguel’s talented lineup.
From 48-61 at the start of the third, the Kings slowly made their way back into the game with respectable outside sniping and gang-rebounding. Last night, Ginebra had six offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter alone and these resulted in seven second chance points.
Cyrus Baguio gave the Kings their first taste of the lead since 2-0 in the first when he nailed a triple from top of the key for 85-82 with 9:27 left. And it was all Ginebra from there as Noel followed this up with one of his own before hitting a layup for 90-82.
San Miguel never came close than seven the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, Alaska guard Willie Miller and six others were named as official candidates for the season-ending MVP award which will be handed out before the start of Wednesday’s Game 4.
The Philippine Cup Best Player, along with Fiesta Conference counterpart Helterbrand were named along with Coca-Cola’s Asi Taulava, Sta. Lucia’s Kelly Williams, Burger King’s Arwind Santos, Talk N Text’s Mark Cardona and San Miguel’s Dondon Hontiveros.
Taulava, Williams, Helterbrand, Santos and Cardona were the top five players with the most statistical points amassed through the semifinal round of the Fiesta Conference, with the final standings to be determined by votes coming from the media, their fellow players, the PBA and television coveror.
Though failing to make the top five in the stats race, Miller and Hontiveros also became MVP contenders because of the former’s RP Cup BPC and the latter being the stats leader of his team which made the Fiesta Conference finals.
Taulava topped the stats race with an average of 32.14 statistical points, followed by Williams (32.07), Helterbrand (30.6), Santos (29.3), Cardona (28.9) and Hontiveros (28.08).
