Purefoods broke away early and then held off the Beermen at the crunch Sunday night to pound out an 87-78 victory in Game 6 of their PBA Philippine Cup semifinals series at the Cuneta Astrodome that put the Tender Juicy Giants in the title playoffs.
“For the first time, I’m speechless. It’s really answered prayers,” said Gregorio during the customary winning coach’s interview. “We were witnesses to a great miracle in this series. You know how strong San Miguel Beer is. But my players wanted more.”
Roger Yap scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Purefoods held the Beermen scoreless for a critical six-minute spell in the fourth quarter that enabled the Giants to close out the best-of-seven series, 4-2, and earn a title clash with a well-rested Alaska side.
That performance by the bull-strong Yap gave him a third straight Player of the Game citation as the Giants completed their mastery of San Miguel, which they didn’t defeat in two games in the eliminations and two of the first three games in the series.
Purefoods, which entered this series ranked as the No. 3 team, thus entered the 21st championship series in its franchise’s history and the 13th in the all-Filipino tournament.
Not only that, the Giants now have the chance to match the all-time mark of five all-Pinoy titles won by the legendary Crispa Redmanizers.
“I told my teammates we can rest when all of this is over and right now, we just have to give it everything we have,” said Yap in Filipino. He also had four assists in another performance that none of San Miguel’s all-star guards could match.
The title series with the Aces starts on Wednesday, and Gregorio admits that fatigue will again play a huge factor since they were dragged into a fifth game in their quarterfinal series with Rain or Shine and then this one.
Alaska, on the other hand, qualified as the top team after the elimination round, earned a three-week break because of that before scoring a four-game sweep of Barangay Ginebra in their separate semifinal series.
“With their 4-0 (sweep) against Ginebra, it would take a lot to subdue them,” explained Gregorio. “They (Aces) are well-rested. But for us, we are determined to really make a difference.
“And I tell you nobody expected us to be in the Finals except us.”
Arwind Santos scattered 20 points and pulled down eight rebounds and Mike Cortez added 17 for San Miguel, which took a 2-1 lead in this series with lopsided wins before failing to recall the magic that gave the Beermen that lead.
In losing, the Beermen also failed to post a repeat of Ginebra’s 2-3 comeback in last season’s Fiesta Conference.
Not only did San Miguel’s offense implode, but it was Purefoods’ defense which held the Beermen to such paltry numbers if the potential of their all-star line-up is put into consideration.
In the four Purefoods victories, San Miguel was held to 84, 84, 82 and last night’s 78, quite a small sum for such a high-priced squad.
San Miguel was held to below 40% shooting from the field and was out-rebounded 51-43.
Purefoods jumped out of the gates hard, like it did in Game 5, and established leads of as many as 20 before that brilliant defensive ploy in the fourth stopped San Miguel on its tracks after the Beermen had come within 72-66.
Roger Yap hit back-to-back baskets, and Marc Pingris nailed a short stab to put back his own miss as the Giants sealed the deal with a 78-67 lead heading into the final 1:52.
James Yap’s struggles beyond the three-point line continued, shooting just 1-of-6 from there for the night. But despite that, the former MVP drilled in 11 points in the first half to usher the Giants to a 48-32 lead at halftime.
Purefoods took a 48-28 advantage with 1:04 left in the second period.
Meantime, Olsen Racela of San Miguel earned some sort of consolation after his eight steals Friday night was ruled as nine for the new all-time record among locals.
The second oldest active player in the league at 39 next only to Johnny Abarrientos who is five months older, Racela thus surpassed the eight steals that Abarrientos himself chalked up twice while with Alaska.
That new mark was just two shy of the all-comers’ mark of 11 held by former Sta. Lucia import Damien Owens.
