Game on Wednesday
(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
7:30 p.m. – TNT vs Ginebra (Finals Game 5)*
*Series tied, 2-2
AFTER GOING THROUGH peaks and valleys over four grueling games, holder TNT and challenger Barangay Ginebra proceed to Wednesday’s tiebreaker with the oft-used quote in mind.
Not too high, not too low.
For the Gin Kings, it’s about keeping their feet on the ground after hacking out back-to-back wins that leveled the PBA Governors’ Cup title series from 0-2.
For the Tropang Giga, it’s picking themselves up from the Games 3 and 4 fumble that prevented them from moving one W away from a repeat championship after their two-game running start.
“For us right now, never too high, never too low,” said Ginebra star Scottie Thompson.
“All we did was tie the series. It’s zero-zero now, (a virtual) best of three. So we can’t live off the last two games and just feel good about that. We got to stay forward-moving and forward-thinking,” said his coach Tim Cone.
TNT mentor Chot Reyes said it’s their turn in the pivotal fifth game set at 7:30 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum to try and swing the pendulum back to their side.
“Definitely, they have the momentum. But it’s the same thing with us. We had the momentum after (the first) two games and now we shifted,” said Mr. Reyes.
“And that’s the finals, that’s basketball. In a seven-game series of two very good teams, the momentum can really shift both ways. They have the momentum now (and) we have to find a way to stop it.”
Using its dreaded defense and led by Best Import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson’s (RHJ) blue-collar work, TNT thoroughly dominated the series opener, 104-88, and quickly followed it up, 96-84.
But tapping into their famous NSD (never-say-die) spirit, Justin Brownlee and the Gin Kings countered hard, 85-73, and 106-92, to make it all square.
In the Game 4 pull-around, Mr. Brownlee finally found his touch from the outside. Moreover, the Gin Kings utilized two weapons that were hardly felt in their first two losses — Stephen Holt, who has assumed the role of RHJ defender and fired 18 with five steals and Maverick Ahanmisi, who shot two triples and a four-ball in a similar 18-point performance.
“They’re really finding their groove, they’re being able to make great reads on their offense and executing their offense well. So it’s incumbent upon us to be able to play better defense,” said Mr. Reyes after Ginebra breached 100 points for the first time in the Last Dance.
“And we need some of our other guys, especially our bench to step up and we hope that we can be better on defense so that we can still have a chance in this,” he added.
Notes: Game 4 was a big hit both in live attendance and TV audience. The 16,783 fans on hand at the Smart Araneta Coliseum marked the largest live crowd since the record 54,589 of Game 7 of the Commissioner’s Cup finals in 2023 at the Philippine Arena. On TV, the game drew a rating of 4.7% on NUTAM (National Urban Television Audience Measurement) and 4.1% on PHINTAM (Philippine National Television Audience Measurement). This also paved the way for RPTV to climb and rank No. 3 in the ratings. The game peaked at 5.34% or viewers of 3.89 million. — Olmin Leyba