MANILA: Hang the balloons, prepare the banners, print those victory shirts and chill the gin, for Barangay Ginebra is within a breath of ending an eight-year wait for a PBA championship.
Ginebra asserted its character early and won in wire-to-wire style, with a 21-point first half lead proving enough buffer to hold off Meralco and gain a 3-2 edge in their best-of-seven series for the Governors’ Cup championship before over 22,000 boisterous fans at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
And after winning back-to-back games for the first time in these playoffs, the Gin Kings gave themselves two chances to win that one match that would put them back to Promised Land for the first time since the 2008 Fiesta Conference.
Ginebra jumped out of the gates hard and opened up leads of as large as 48-27, before thwarting every comeback attempt of the Bolts and post the most lopsided win in the series.
“We went back-to-back (wins) for the first time (in the series),” Ginebra coach Tim Cone told reporters. “All we’ve done is give ourselves a lead in the series for the first time, but they (Bolts) are certainly capable of also going back-to-back.”
Justin Brownlee cranked up the Ginebra offense early, shooting 20 of his 29 points in the first two periods before getting all the offensive help he needed in the final two periods.
In stark contrast, counterpart Allen Durham was made to struggle bigtime, finishing with just 20 – his lowest in these playoffs – as the Ginebra defense did its job.
In fact, Meralco coach Norman Black described Ginebra’s defense on Durham as the cause of the Bolts’ demise in Game 5.
“Overall, we got it taken to us by Ginebra, credit to them,” Black said. “They (Kings) basically told us tonight that (our) locals could beat them (Kings) but they wouldn’t let Allen Durham beat them.
“Other players have to step up and score,” Black said of his locals. “Tonight, their defense against Allen really shut him down, that was basically our demise.”
Game 6 – the first of those two chances for the Kings – will be played Wednesday night also at the Big Dome in Cubao, and Cone said that he doesn’t mind getting his players some rest because it would be the toughest game of the series.
“Without a doubt, closing a series is the hardest thing to do,” Cone, who has been in the league 26 years and has 19 titles under his belt, said. “Closing out a series is tougher than winning a Game 7.
“A great team (like Meralco) with their backs to the wall will be pretty hard to beat.”
The closest that the Bolts could get to was within five, 77-82, after four straight free throws by Reynel Hugnatan going into the final 3:03.
But Ginebra would finish the Bolts off with a flurry as Sol Mercado drained a triple and Brownlee nailed a layup heading into the last 1:38 to open up an 87-77 lead and pull the plug on the game Bolts.
“It wasn’t just the bad start. I thought we didn’t play a good game all night,” Black said.
Meralco’s last-gasp stand came after that as Durham scored his final basket and Rookie of the Year Chris Newsome a layup for 81-87 before a controversy came up.
Mercado was dribbling hard before committing an obvious traveling violation that none of the three referees didn’t spot, giving Scottie Thompson the chance to drain a triple with 44 seconds remaining for a 90-81 lead.
Even Meralco governor Al Panlilio made his way into the court because of that blatant non-call, which also infuriated Black no end when crew chief Nol Quilingen told him in a confrontation that it wasn’t traveling.
Ginebra asserted its character early and won in wire-to-wire style, with a 21-point first half lead proving enough buffer to hold off Meralco and gain a 3-2 edge in their best-of-seven series for the Governors’ Cup championship before over 22,000 boisterous fans at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
And after winning back-to-back games for the first time in these playoffs, the Gin Kings gave themselves two chances to win that one match that would put them back to Promised Land for the first time since the 2008 Fiesta Conference.
Ginebra jumped out of the gates hard and opened up leads of as large as 48-27, before thwarting every comeback attempt of the Bolts and post the most lopsided win in the series.
“We went back-to-back (wins) for the first time (in the series),” Ginebra coach Tim Cone told reporters. “All we’ve done is give ourselves a lead in the series for the first time, but they (Bolts) are certainly capable of also going back-to-back.”
Justin Brownlee cranked up the Ginebra offense early, shooting 20 of his 29 points in the first two periods before getting all the offensive help he needed in the final two periods.
In stark contrast, counterpart Allen Durham was made to struggle bigtime, finishing with just 20 – his lowest in these playoffs – as the Ginebra defense did its job.
In fact, Meralco coach Norman Black described Ginebra’s defense on Durham as the cause of the Bolts’ demise in Game 5.
“Overall, we got it taken to us by Ginebra, credit to them,” Black said. “They (Kings) basically told us tonight that (our) locals could beat them (Kings) but they wouldn’t let Allen Durham beat them.
“Other players have to step up and score,” Black said of his locals. “Tonight, their defense against Allen really shut him down, that was basically our demise.”
Game 6 – the first of those two chances for the Kings – will be played Wednesday night also at the Big Dome in Cubao, and Cone said that he doesn’t mind getting his players some rest because it would be the toughest game of the series.
“Without a doubt, closing a series is the hardest thing to do,” Cone, who has been in the league 26 years and has 19 titles under his belt, said. “Closing out a series is tougher than winning a Game 7.
“A great team (like Meralco) with their backs to the wall will be pretty hard to beat.”
The closest that the Bolts could get to was within five, 77-82, after four straight free throws by Reynel Hugnatan going into the final 3:03.
But Ginebra would finish the Bolts off with a flurry as Sol Mercado drained a triple and Brownlee nailed a layup heading into the last 1:38 to open up an 87-77 lead and pull the plug on the game Bolts.
“It wasn’t just the bad start. I thought we didn’t play a good game all night,” Black said.
Meralco’s last-gasp stand came after that as Durham scored his final basket and Rookie of the Year Chris Newsome a layup for 81-87 before a controversy came up.
Mercado was dribbling hard before committing an obvious traveling violation that none of the three referees didn’t spot, giving Scottie Thompson the chance to drain a triple with 44 seconds remaining for a 90-81 lead.
Even Meralco governor Al Panlilio made his way into the court because of that blatant non-call, which also infuriated Black no end when crew chief Nol Quilingen told him in a confrontation that it wasn’t traveling.
