MANILA: Talk ’N Text picked the wrong night, the wrong foe to play a complete game.
Barangay Ginebra, playing with utter dominance in their do-or-die match, showed the defending champion Tropang Texters the door with a 113-100 victory Sunday night that left no doubt as to who truly deserves to be in the Philippine Cup’s Final Four at the Araneta Coliseum.
The only time the Gin Kings trailed was when Talk ’N Text swingman Mac Cardona made the game’s first basket. But after that, it was a Ginebra show all the way to close out the quarterfinal series at 3-2.
Talk ‘N Text’s ouster meant that for the 25th straight year, no team has repeated as all-Filipino champion. And this one series will be most memorable, since the Texters walked out in the first quarter of Game 4 to push this match-up into a deciding match, one which the Texters walked into and faced a foe that played as if it cannot lose.
The Kings thus advanced to face No. 1 seed Alaska in a best-of-seven semifinal series starting Wednesday with Purefoods clashing with sister squad San Miguel in the other Final Four match-up.
“It’s an awesome feeling we made it through despite all the things that had happened. We’ll cherish it tonight and go back to work tomorrow (Wednesday) to prepare for Alaska,” said Ginebra coach Jong Uichico, who was humble enough to admit that he never felt he would make it this far after losing the first two games.
“I didn’t imagine we would play Game Five. There’s no other explanation except that the guys never gave up, the crowd was there for us and the Lord gave us this blessing,” Uichico added.
More than 21,000 screaming souls showed up to witness the controversial game, which almost did not take place after Talk ‘N Text threatened to abandon the rest of the series after forfeiting Game 4 on Friday when it walked out with still one minute left in the first period.
In fact, the entire Talk ‘N Text squad arrived together after meeting at the Moro Lorenzo gym where the members were taped and did their warm-ups.
Apparently, they never got their games going. JC Intal highlighted his breakout as a real star in the league with 28 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high three blocks, while Eric Menk played with vintage form in contributing 16 points and 14 boards. Ronald Tubid, Willy Wilson, Celino Cruz and Enrico Villanueva all finished with double-digit outputs for the Kings, who played with reckless abandon that had their faithful that packed the Big Dome in a frenzy the entire night. Chot Reyes of Talk ‘N Text played only nine men with Mark Cardona, Jason Castro, Jimmy Alapag and Jarred Dillinger all making at least 17 points each.
But it was obvious that they missed the suspended Ranidel De Ocampo, whose Flagrant Foul 2 on Tubid and subsequent ejection on Friday triggered the walkout that has so far cost the team P500,000 in fines.
That figure is expected to balloon when the Office of the Commissioner tackles the issue Monday.
The absence of De Ocampo meant the loss of something like 12 points and nine rebounds, numbers which the 6-foot-7 forward averaged in the first three games of the series.
And Uichico also admitted that having De Ocampo sit out the game meant a lot for the Kings, who led by as many as 17 points in the third period.
Meanwhile, James Yap was sharp when Purefoods needed him the most, shooting 28 points to power the Tender Juicy Giants to a 95-85 victory over Rain or Shine and a similar 3-2 score in their separate series.
Yap, who won the 2006 Most Valuable Player award, had 13 points in a pivotal third period spurt for the Giants. Purefoods actually breezed to a 2-0 series lead but no thanks to a 12.5-point average from Yap, lost Games 3 and 4. Yap didn’t make a single three-pointer in 12 tries in those games. But he was in blazing form last night, burying 11 of his 22 shots this time and got plenty of help from Kerby Raymundo and Roger Yap, who contributed 16 points apiece.
