Defending champion Talk ‘N Text overhauled a 18-point Ginebra lead and then converted on a brilliant alley-oop play in the closing seconds to prevail, 106-105, and take a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-five quarterfinal series at the Araneta Coliseum last night.
Comebacks were actually the norm of the night, as Purefoods, again getting the goods from James and Roger Yap, rallied from a 20-point deficit to post a 95-94 win and a similar 2-0 lead over hard luck Rain or Shine in the second game.
Jared Dillinger received a perfect inbounds pass from Ranidel de Ocampo to convert the alley-oop that left just 2.4 seconds on the clock as a large pro-Ginebra crowd was silenced.
“I wanted to dunk it,” Dillinger, a member of the Powerade-Pilipinas squad that finished eighth in the last Fiba-Asia in Tianjin, China several months back, said. “But I wanted to make it safe. I was just too wide open.”
The game-winning play was a familiar one. It was actually one that saw Alaska beat the Tropang Texters in the dying seconds of an elimination round game, when LA Tenorio carried the Aces through.
“Siot Tanquingcen did it to Tim Cone, Tim Cone did it to Chot Reyes and now this,” Talk ‘N Text coach Chot Reyes animatedly told reporters after the game. “That’s the way basketball is, you learn from other coaches and apply it against them.”
Talk ‘N Text pushed Ginebra’s back so hard against the wall that the Kings would need to win three straight games in order to stay alive.
And if there’s a team that could do it, it’s Ginebra.
Ginebra, which was then coached by the charismatic Robert Jaworski, became the first team in the PBA to ever come back from a 1-34 deficit in a best-of-seven series to prevail, pulling it out against Shell in a championship series.
And these Kings would need nothing short of a similar comeback to advance. And they would have to do it against a team that is not lacking in anything.
Ginebra’s actually had a chance, as back-to-back triples by JC Intal had the Kings surging to a 10-4-102 lead heading into the final 60 seconds.
But Ginebra failed to finish off the Texters by making just one of four free throws the rest of the way with Eric Menk muffing two attempts and Intal himself splitting his charities off the final foul of Mac Cardona for the Kings’ last taste of the lead, 105-104 with 3.3 seconds left.
Celino Cruz missed a desperation heave badly, sending the Kings into the almost impossible task to make the semifinals.
Should the Texters finish off the Kings, they would advance to the Final Four against No. 1 seed Alaska in a best-of-seven series, while awaiting the winner of the Purefoods-Rain or Shine match-up is No. 2 San Miguel.
The Yaps, meanwhile, combined for 45 points with Roger shooting all but two of his 20 points in the final two periods to again share the limelight with his namesake James, the former MVP.
James completed the comeback for the Tender Juicy Giants by hitting two charities in the final six-tenths of a second that allowed Purefoods to score a follow-up of a 90-85 Game 1 conquest of the hard-fighting Elasto Painters.
“The hardest thing about this series is that just everybody thought it was going to be breeze for us,” Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio told reporters later. “But Rain or Shine has proven they’re a tough team. We struggled through the first three quarters.
“It’s a relief we’re able to pull through,” added Gregorio. “The only advantage I see at this point is that we need to win only once and they need three. But until we get that one, it’s far from over,” Gregorio added.
Eddie Laure, who played great for the Painters in their wildcard conquests of Sta. Lucia and Coca-Cola, committed a critical foul with James Yap on the act of shooting from three-point area that gave the Purefoods gunslinger the chance to erase a 93-94 deficit.
Yap had no problems sinking the first two before deliberately missing the third to not give the Painters the chance to score anymore.
