By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
THE ONGOING best-of-seven Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup finals affair hits the pivotal Game Four today where both the protagonists — Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings and Meralco Bolts — are looking to get the win that could well change the complexion of the series moving forward in their respective favor.
Had the stakes for today’s game taken higher after the Bolts finally broke through for their first win in the series in Game Three, 94-81, last Wednesday, the two teams battle anew at 7 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum with one team, the Kings, trying to move a step closer to repeating as champion, and the other, the Bolts, attempting to tie the series and seize the momentum.
Facing the possibility of going down 0-3 in the series in Game Three, and having to do the near-Sisyphean task of sweeping the remaining games if they are to win the title, the Bolts gutted it out with the defending champions to hack out the win that infused life to their championship bid which not a few thought they were losing their grip on.
Import Allen Durham showed the way for Meralco last time around, coming up with monster numbers of 38 points, 20 rebounds, four assists, two steals and five blocks.
Veteran Reynel Hugnatan came off the bench to give Meralco much-needed boost, especially after Ranidel de Ocampo went down with a calf injury, finishing with 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting from three-point land. Chris Newsome added 12 assists along with seven points.
Meralco also did its job on the defensive end, limiting Kings import Justin Brownlee to just 15 markers while also leaving the rest of the Barangay Ginebra crew laboring.
“We had to grind it out for 48 minutes. Ginebra is a tough team,” said Mr. Durham after the game.
“We concentrated on making stops and that did it for us. We got Game Three, now time to take Game Four,” he added.
A concern for the Bolts is the situation of Mr. De Ocampo, who could be out for the remainder of the series after hurting his left calf in Game Three.
“Little bad news is that I think we’ve lost Ranidel for the rest of the series due to a calf injury and it doesn’t look very good right now,” said Meralco coach Norman Black in the postgame press conference.
“It’s going to be tough without Ranidel but hopefully our other big men get to step up and go to war,” he added.
MOVE ON
For Barangay Ginebra, Game Three could have gone its way had it taken better care of its business.
“Meralco won the game and credit to them. No sense in dwelling too much on it and we just have to learn from it and move on,” said Kings point guard LA Tenorio, who finished the game with 14 points, three assists and three rebounds.
Japeth Aguilar also had 14 markers for Barangay Ginebra.
Meanwhile, the PBA holds today its annual Leo Awards, which honors the players who performed well in the ongoing season of Asia’s first play-for-pay league.
Among the awards to be given are for the most valuable player, rookie of the year, most improved player and mythical selections.
San Miguel’s June Mar Fajardo is seen collecting his fourth straight MVP award while Phoenix’s Matthew Wright, TNT’s Roger Pogoy and Star’s Jio Jalalon are strong contenders for rookie of the year.