The two champions of Season 50, the San Miguel Beermen and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, will duke it out in the quarterfinals of the PBA Governors’ Cup. And, at least on paper and based on conference performance alone, it appears the Beermen have the upper hand.
San Miguel finished the elimination round tied with the NLEX Road Warriors for the best record overall and landed the No. 2 seed in Group A. Ginebra, on the other hand, has struggled in life after Justin Brownlee, pushed perilously close to elimination at one point before the breaks finally went their way.
Ginebra Had No Other Choice
While facing the mighty Beermen isn’t exactly the best route to take this early, Ginebra coach Tim Cone thinks his team didn’t really have any better alternative, especially with where they ended up. It was either San Miguel or NLEX.
“Obviously, we’re not excited to play San Miguel, but we’ll take on all comers,” Cone said after Ginebra beat the Blackwater Bossing, 101-96, in the last game of the elimination round. “It’s a best-of-five series, so that kind of equals it all out. It should be a really good battle to see who comes in. I think the matchups are kind of very interesting.”
Aside from the matchups, Cone also thinks Ginebra’s playoff experience—the team has made the playoffs in every conference under Cone—should’ve taught the crowd darlings what it takes to win at this level and in this situation.
“It’s what makes it interesting because we’re a playoff-hardened team. We’re used to being there, and we know what it takes to play in the playoffs,” Cone added.
Defense Is Key, Says Troy Rosario
Veteran forward Troy Rosario is unfazed as well. In fact, he knows Ginebra can beat San Miguel—that is, if their defense slows down the Beermen.
“It’s a challenge naman sa amin lahat…” Rosario acknowledged, also on Friday. “Pero I think ‘pag nag-click yung team defense namin, I think ‘yung chance namin, malaki ‘yung chance namin na makuha ‘yung series.”
That defense, of course, can be stifling. In the elimination round, Ginebra gave up just 94.4 points a game, or just 0.2 more than the Magnolia Hotshots’ league-best defense. But it will be tested by San Miguel, which has the second-most prolific offense in the league (121.4 points per game).
Pagalingan Na
At the end of the day, San Miguel versus Ginebra will, according to Rosario, boil down to one thing: pagalingan.
“Mga stats wala na ‘yan sa playoffs kasi pagalingan na ‘yan. Pagalingan na mag-adjust ng mga game plans. ‘Yung mga players, dyan na lumalabas kung ano meron ang isang player,” Rosario pointed out.
That pagalingan begins later today, with tip-off at the Smart Araneta Coliseum scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
