BARANGAY Ginebra San Miguel and Meralco eye semifinals series-clinching wins over separate opponents for a possible return trip for both teams in the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup.
Ginebra and Meralco clashed in the last Governors Cup played before the Covid-19 pandemic with the Gin Kings winning the series, 4-1.
On Wednesday, the Gin Kings and the Bolts could find themselves facing each other again if they beat their respective Game 4 opponents at the Smart Araneta Coliseum—Ginebra against NLEX at 3 p.m. and Meralco against Magnolia at 6 p.m.
Ginebra missed sweeping its best-of-five series—no thanks to a rare mental lapse by veteran guard LA Tenorio—after it yielded a close 85-86 loss to NLEX in Game 3 two nights ago.
“That’s all we’re going to do, we’re going to put it away and move on [from Game 3 loss],” Ginebra coach Tim Cone said.
Import Justin Brownlee is the leading scorer in the semifinals with a 28.6 points average, while adding 11.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists across his name. Scottie Thompson is sporting a 15 points, 8.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists average for Ginebra also in semifinals.
But NLEX won’t be napping on Wednesday afternoon.
“We would want to prolong the series, the longer the series, the better for us,” NLEX coach Yeng Guiao said. “We have a deeper rotation than them so we can last a longer series.”
With Tony Bishop churning in divine numbers, Meralco’s on the crest of getting a shot at avenging its Finals loss to Ginebra in 2019. But coach Norman Black knows complacency can turn his Bolts off.
“I’m sure they will turn up the intensity. Our guys are aware of that, so we have to be ready,” Black said. “We have to focus also on our rebounding.”
Bishop was a force in the last two games where he scored 22 and 27 points in addition to his 14 and 10 rebounds.