Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is facing a familiar position later tonight when they take on the San Miguel Beermen in Game 6 of their PBA Philippine Cup semifinals series: down 3-2 and a loss away from elimination.
This was the exact same situation Ginebra found itself in during last season’s Philippine Cup, and the league’s most popular team pulled through, hacking out an 88-87 win thanks to a mammoth LA Tenorio triple with 2.6 seconds remaining.
No More Tenorio, No More Clutch Heroics?
This time around, there will be no Tenorio for Team NSD, as their Tinyente has moved on to coaching the Magnolia Hotshots. That is partially a relief for San Miguel, which will have one less big-time shot-maker to worry about in case Game 6 hangs in the balance down the stretch.
“Good thing LA’s not here now,” Ross deadpanned when San Miguel coach Leo Austria was asked about it after San Miguel’s hard-fought Game 5 win on Wednesday.
“LA Austria nandito,” Austria joked, before alluding to Tenorio’s absence. “That is also a possibility [Tenorio hitting a big shot] because we know NSD—Ginebra never say die. They always try to find times to look for an important shot like that. Mabuti na lang kanina walang LA Tenorio dahil ’yung last shot nila, probably pwedeng maging four points. But for next time, we’ve learned our lesson.”
LA or no LA, expect San Miguel to be ready to close this thing out.
Ginebra Focused on Game 6, Hopes to Limit Fumbles
For Ginebra, the goal is as simple as it can get: force Game 7 by winning Game 6 first. And that is exactly where the team’s focus is, according to Tim Cone.
“We can’t get to a Game 7, winner-take-all, unless we take care of Game 6,” said Cone. “That’s where our focus is going to be.”
A focused Ginebra will have to take better care of the ball if it is to avoid a repeat of Game 5, which Cone described as “just wasn’t our night.”
“We made crucial turnovers all throughout [Game 6] that we could have made runs,” he said. “It just wasn’t our night. We were fumbling the ball. The ball wasn’t going in for us.”
Game 5 may not have gone Ginebra’s way for the most part, but they still had a sliver of hope to steal the game in the end. A better effort in Game 6 could very well send this series to a decider—just like the last time these two storied franchises met.
Tipoff at the Smart Araneta Coliseum is at 7:30 p.m.
