By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

UNDENIABLY, the issue now in the Philippine sports is the PBA Governor’s Cup best-of-seven championship series between two giant professional teams: the defending champion Ginebra Gin Kings and the perennial runner-up, the Meralco Bolts. We, diehard basketball buffs, watched the three skirmishes on TV and how Norman Black-coached title-hungry Meralco five overwhelmed and defeated the dreaded Tim Cone-mentored Ginebra quintet, 104-91, in the first game. The rout shocked thousands of fans who watched it inside the Araneta Coliseum last April 6, starred by Meralco’s wingman Allein Maliksi who converted v5 of his 7 treys for a team high 22 points. As expected by many, the league favorite, the never-say-die Ginebra was vengeful in their second hostility, spearheaded by its prolific import Justine Brownlee, narrowly beating its conqueror, 99-93, to the delight of the ardent pro-Ginebra fans. We saw how the three-point specialist Maliksi was tightly guarded, obviously affected because all his attempts misfired and ended with zero mark, his first in the conference. I honestly believe it was the anemic play of the six-foot-three Maliks that caused Meralco to lose

“If Maliksi scored even just seven points, Meralco could have won the match,” said Mangaldan son Armando Lalata, a former basketball player. Yes, I agree. That’s my take of it, too. Of course, I should credit Tim Cone for orchestrating the play against Maliksi.

The third game last Sunday (April 10) held at the Mall of Asia Arena as expected different team strategies were applied. Down by 8 points, 48-40, after the first half and unlike the second game with Maliksi scoreless after seven attempts, this time the former Ginebra ward Maliksi scored 10 points, seven of them from the crucial fourth and final canto to help his team to victory, 83-74. That gave Meralco the commanding lead, 2-1, in the series. I believe the 83-74 score is one of the lowest outputs in the history of PBA championship games.

Admittedly sans doubt, Maliksi’s off-and-on performance is disturbing and very unpredictable. My belief says that if the erratic Maliksi continues to be unimpressive anew in their next few games, Meralco will likely suffer another setback and the series will result in a yo-yo game and could reach the seventh and final encounter, like what happened in the past.

During the post-game interview, Coach Black said it was the suffocating defense of his boys that made the difference for their victory. But the frustrated Cone explained that after leading by as many as 13 points, his boys became panicky down the stretch that visibly caused them to suffer many costly errors and eventually the defeat.

Yes, I agree with the two, but the most relevant was Cone’s. Ginebra, led 43-30, in the second period and eight in the halfway mark, 48-40, his boys began to commit blunder and turned cold in three-point shots while Meralco played the opposite, converting some timely baskets to take the lead and never looked back up to the final buzzer.

I’m making this piece early (April 12) because of the Holy Week celebration. So, by the time you read this piece, the fourth and fifth games (April 13 and April 17) for sure were already done. And the big question now is: Can Ginebra, despite being behind by one win, still push through a record of fourpeat victory? My answer is like yours.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: You shall not take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discern and perverts the words
of the righteous. EXODUS 23: 8

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