By Jesus A. Garcia Jr

 

THE first four games of this year PBA’s Governors’ Cup best-of-seven championship series between the reigning and defending champion Ginebra Gin Kings and title-contender TNT Tropang Giga resulted all in a tension-filled skirmishes with deadlocks, 1-1, 2-2, all held at the historic Araneta Coliseum.

Yes, as expected, the crowd darling Ginebra Five under the tutelage of veteran and multi-titled head coach Tim Cone took the first salvo, 102-90, spearheaded by its Filipino naturalized player Justine Brownlee and Fil-German center-forward Christian Standhardinger. TNT bounced back in the second encounter whipping Ginebra by 13 points, 95-82, led by its import, the versatile point-guard Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. As anticipated by some basketball experts, the boys of Cone retaliated and repulsed the determined TNT Five, 117-103, defending the series to 2-1.  Then, we watched on TV how the bearded Fil-Am guard Stanley Pringle surprised everybody to lead his team Ginebra by incredibly pumping in 6-of-6 in the three-point range, contributing to Ginebra’s new franchise record of 18 triples out of 32 tries that caught Lastimosa and his boys off-guard. But the highly-spirited TNT Five struck back in the fourth clash like what they did in their second meeting. In the absence of their two reliable vital cogs, the three-point specialist RR Pogoy and center Justine Chua due to injuries, Lastimosa came up with a masterful adjustments in the fifth game. He fielded in the seldom-used forward Calvin Oftana and point-guard Kid Montalbo in the first quarter. Luckily it paid off by assisting the controversial center Poy Erram clamp down on Ginebra’s consistent reliable point-maker Standhardinger to just 10 points and with only five rebounds, way shy of his average of 20 points and 10 boards to beat the multi-titled Ginebra, 116-104, to even the series 2-2 apiece. It’s Montalbo’s first time in any TNT’s championship matches. Surprisingly, Ginebra succumbed to the fifth confrontation, 104-95, with TNT seizing the series front, 3-2, and now just a win away to bag its ever first Governors Cup tiara since it entered the league. Yes, the multi-titled Ginebra quintet must win two-in-row to retain their crown which I believe is a tough task against a title-hungry team TNT.

Winning the fifth match was a moral boosting step for TNT squad and pivotal for the Lastimosa boys. We saw last Wednesday night (April 19) how determined the TNT Five were, especially their import the multitalented 28-year-old former NBA player Jefferson who shone in the very physical, crucial fourth and final period draining in a total of monstrous 32 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists.

I’m making this piece on Thursday (April 20) and by the time you read this article the sixth game or the seventh (if necessary) are already over. And now the big question is, do you think TNT can sustain their momentum after winning the fifth game? Knowing them, I think so. Remember, I pick TNT to win and hopefully I will not be wrong. “It’s not over, until it’s over,” as the maxim says. Let’s just wait and see.

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A basketball league for 14 years old and below will commence on Sunday (April 23) at Barangay Cabuloan Covered Court in Urdaneta City starting at 9:00 a.m. According to media colleague Willie Lomibao, the tourney dubbed as “The Lakay Danny Ildefonso Developmental League” will be participated by 15 teams from different towns and barangays of Pangasinan and will be graced by the former PBA Danny himself and his children Dave, Shaun, Pia, Sam and Sym.  See you there.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: ‘Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I m the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart. JEREMIAH 24: 7

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