Scottie Thompson started the fire in Game 5. He and Nards Pinto helped finish it later.
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is moving on to the semis yet again after blowing out the San Miguel Beermen, 110-94, in Game 5 of their PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinals duel. And, for Tim Cone, his veteran guards—Thompson and Pinto—made a whale of a difference.
Playoff Scottie Thompson on Full Display
In Game 5, Scottie Thompson, as he had done so many times before, was the catalyst for Ginebra, taking the barangay to an early double-digit lead with six first-quarter points, plenty of pesky defense, and a whole lot of leadership.
“Scottie, he’s the leader, and he’s been through those wars. He’s been through those things that happened,” Cone said of the 2021 PBA MVP. “I thought that he set the tone for us in the first quarter, coming out of the game and just coming out and just playing as hard as he possibly can.”
After losing Games 3 and 4, Ginebra certainly needed a strong start in Game 5, and Thompson’s energy helped make that happen.
Nards Pinto Conjures Some Magic
Ginebra eventually tapered off after that explosive first quarter as Jerrick Ahanmisi, June Mar Fajardo, and George King took turns carrying the San Miguel offense. King’s outburst in the third—14 points in about four minutes—proved to be most telling, as it pushed the Beermen ahead, 76-63, near the end of the third quarter.
But the crowd favorites fought back, and one of the catalysts of this second-half rally was Nards Pinto, who has been through wars himself, most of them with Thompson at Ginebra. In fact, Pinto and Thompson nearly willed Ginebra back from a 19-point fourth-quarter deficit in Game 4, only to fall short. In Game 5, they didn’t.
Pinto and Thompson’s full-court defense sparked a 39-6 run that put Ginebra ahead for good, 101-82, and left San Miguel looking lost and deflated.
“I think he [Pinto] also galvanized our defense. He also played well in Game 4… gave us a lift after we had fallen behind and gave us a chance to win that,” Cone said of Pinto. “And we were looking for some more magic when we brought him in at that time, and he turned it around. Got a crucial steal and layup against [Jerrick] Ahanmisi, which was really important at that time.”
That steal came very early in the fourth, with the game tied at 80 after a Thompson three-point play off his own steal, this time on King. Pinto’s strip of Ahanmisi and ensuing lay-in gave Ginebra the lead, got the crowd even more into it, and sparked the backbreaking run that ultimately decided San Miguel’s fate.
That run unfolded like magic—and Nards Pinto and Scottie Thompson were at the center of it all.
