MANILA: It’s been a while, and Barangay Ginebra made sure that in getting back in a PBA finale, the Gin Kings would perform at their finest.
Bouncing back from what was its ugliest loss of the season, the Gin Kings pulled out probably its best victory of the year on Tuesday night by ripping sister team San Miguel Beer, 117-92, to advance to the Governors’ Cup title series before a boisterous throng at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
Using a solid start and a sizzling second half, the Gin Kings ran the Beermen to the ground, leading by as large as 33 points in a clinical performance that put the crowd-darlings back in the title series for the first time since being swept three years ago by Alaska in the Commissioner’s Cup.
“When we won one game, I couldn’t believe it. I still couldn’t believe it when we won two,” Ginebra coach Tim Cone said after the crescendo of the celebrations died down. “I still couldn’t believe we won three games.”
The Beermen might find it hard believing at first, especially in the manner in which they were dethroned.
Ginebra raced to a 25-point lead in the first half, saw this dwindle down to a point before coming out of the halftime break as sharp as they could be to blow the Beermen off the floor.
Scottie Thompson, the all-around rookie point guard, jumpstarted the Ginebra offense before the rest of the gang followed suit as the Beermen never were able to get the overflow crowd out of the equation, which fueled the boundless energy the Kings played with all game.
“Our strategy was to have Scottie take the first shot,” Cone bared. “Because they were not really looking out for Scottie (on defense). And he hit some shots. He hit a lot of shots and the team hit a lot of shots.”
Thompson, who had a triple double in an epic Game 3 win, finished with a career-high 24 points, with import Justin Brownlee shooting 26 and Sol Mercado firing 22 in a three-cornered battering ram that chopped the Beermen to size.
Thompson also had 15 rebounds and five assists, a performance that stands taller than his 12-point, 11, rebound and 10-assist effort in Game 3 as this one came during the clinching match.
Brownlee also contained hot MVP pick June Mar Fajardo, as the 6-foot-10 cornerstone of San Miguel scored just seven points – all on free throws – after being able to get off just one attempt from the floor.
“I had all my losing speeches already,” Cone went on. “It was an incredible effort on the part of the guys. We talked about coming out aggressive and we did.”
The result was certainly not expected by a lot, more so since the Beermen came into the game on the heels of a 29-point Game 4 victory, having all the momentum they needed for the rubber match.
Ginebra, though, had other plans.
“We were really embarrassed in Game 4,” Cone said. “It was such a redemptive win. We got redemption.”
Ginebra thus advanced to face Meralco starting Friday night also at the Big Dome I Cubao, completing the march of the underdogs to the best-of-seven series with the Bolts also not given a huge chance to turn the tables on No. 1 seed TNT KaTropa.
The Bolts wrapped up their separate best-of-five series with the Texters on Monday night with a 94-88 win for 3-1 and their first championship playoff appearance in six years in the league.
Arwind Santos paced the Beermen with 24 as San Miguel, which was tipped as a Grand Slam contender at the start of the season, will have to settle to having won just one championship and being eliminated in the Final Four in the two other conferences.
LA Tenorio scored 18 points and had 10 assists before exiting the game with just over three minutes remaining and enjoining all the Ginebra faithful to screaming its loudest at centercourt.
Brownlee was the third man with a double-double for Cone with 10 rebounds.
Bouncing back from what was its ugliest loss of the season, the Gin Kings pulled out probably its best victory of the year on Tuesday night by ripping sister team San Miguel Beer, 117-92, to advance to the Governors’ Cup title series before a boisterous throng at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
Using a solid start and a sizzling second half, the Gin Kings ran the Beermen to the ground, leading by as large as 33 points in a clinical performance that put the crowd-darlings back in the title series for the first time since being swept three years ago by Alaska in the Commissioner’s Cup.
“When we won one game, I couldn’t believe it. I still couldn’t believe it when we won two,” Ginebra coach Tim Cone said after the crescendo of the celebrations died down. “I still couldn’t believe we won three games.”
The Beermen might find it hard believing at first, especially in the manner in which they were dethroned.
Ginebra raced to a 25-point lead in the first half, saw this dwindle down to a point before coming out of the halftime break as sharp as they could be to blow the Beermen off the floor.
Scottie Thompson, the all-around rookie point guard, jumpstarted the Ginebra offense before the rest of the gang followed suit as the Beermen never were able to get the overflow crowd out of the equation, which fueled the boundless energy the Kings played with all game.
“Our strategy was to have Scottie take the first shot,” Cone bared. “Because they were not really looking out for Scottie (on defense). And he hit some shots. He hit a lot of shots and the team hit a lot of shots.”
Thompson, who had a triple double in an epic Game 3 win, finished with a career-high 24 points, with import Justin Brownlee shooting 26 and Sol Mercado firing 22 in a three-cornered battering ram that chopped the Beermen to size.
Thompson also had 15 rebounds and five assists, a performance that stands taller than his 12-point, 11, rebound and 10-assist effort in Game 3 as this one came during the clinching match.
Brownlee also contained hot MVP pick June Mar Fajardo, as the 6-foot-10 cornerstone of San Miguel scored just seven points – all on free throws – after being able to get off just one attempt from the floor.
“I had all my losing speeches already,” Cone went on. “It was an incredible effort on the part of the guys. We talked about coming out aggressive and we did.”
The result was certainly not expected by a lot, more so since the Beermen came into the game on the heels of a 29-point Game 4 victory, having all the momentum they needed for the rubber match.
Ginebra, though, had other plans.
“We were really embarrassed in Game 4,” Cone said. “It was such a redemptive win. We got redemption.”
Ginebra thus advanced to face Meralco starting Friday night also at the Big Dome I Cubao, completing the march of the underdogs to the best-of-seven series with the Bolts also not given a huge chance to turn the tables on No. 1 seed TNT KaTropa.
The Bolts wrapped up their separate best-of-five series with the Texters on Monday night with a 94-88 win for 3-1 and their first championship playoff appearance in six years in the league.
Arwind Santos paced the Beermen with 24 as San Miguel, which was tipped as a Grand Slam contender at the start of the season, will have to settle to having won just one championship and being eliminated in the Final Four in the two other conferences.
LA Tenorio scored 18 points and had 10 assists before exiting the game with just over three minutes remaining and enjoining all the Ginebra faithful to screaming its loudest at centercourt.
Brownlee was the third man with a double-double for Cone with 10 rebounds.
