THERE is not a doubt that Ginebra will enter the court on Wednesday—that’s today—as the heavy favorite to defeat Meralco in Game One of their first-to-win-four showdown for the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
For one, Ginebra owns the hottest import in Justin Brownlee, whose last outing alone saw him explode for a career playoff best of 47 points.
For another, Ginebra, the defending champion, has beaten Meralco three of the four times that they battled for the Governors’ Cup title.
Aside from Brownlee, Ginebra boasts of the ever-reliable Scottie Thompson, whose consistency in being Brownlee’s chief back up is almost beyond equal.
Brownlee is so powerful that he could almost will his teammates to do the impossible.
Didn’t he even assure LA Tenorio he’d win Game 4 “for you, LA” after Tenorio emerged goat in Ginebra’s Game 3 loss to NLEX?
Brownlee just doesn’t shoot blazing threes and perimeter jumpers with ridiculous accuracy. He also speaks in profound manner.
When Ginebra Coach Tim Cone said he always took “huge delight” with every crown he wins, Brownlee said: “It’s basically self-explanatory what Tim said. Winning never gets old.”
Wow! Winning never gets old!
And when Cone, on the issue of winning, told Inquirer’s Denison Rey A. Dalupang this: “I still have bad tummies, and sleepless nights. It’s never a normal thing for me.”
Brownlee answered, as quoted by Denison: “It’s never about the end. It’s about creating new heights. You get to that mountaintop, you’d want to get to a new one.”
But a grizzled warrior that he has always been, Meralco coach Norman Black is undaunted despite his losing streak against Cone.
“I like my chances this time around,” said Black
Obviously, the confidence emanates from Meralco’s convincing 94-81 victory over Magnolia in the semifinal Game 5 decider that shoved the Bolts to a fourth Governors’ Cup Finals in five years.
Allein Malixi had 24 points and Raymond Almazan 18 points on perfect shooting in that ego-boosting Meralco win.
With Meralco import Tony Bishop coming up with a subpar effort and Chris Banchero absent due to a hurting torso he suffered in Game 4, Chris Newsome and Aaron Black picked up the slack with 17 and 16 points, respectively.
Meralco had a big lift when Magnolia import Mike Harris was carried off the court after suffering two bad falls.
“I’ve never beaten Tim before,” said Black of Cone. “We’ve been meeting a lot lately. And he’s been on the winning end every time. But I always think I can win. I always think my team can win whenever we enter the court.”
My swivel-chair narra waits.
THAT’S IT Everybody happy. That’s the fruit of the [EJ] Obiena-[Philip Ella] Juico rift that was finally resolved through the mediation efforts of sports czar Butch Ramirez and, yes, Senate Sports Committee chair Senator Bong Go. But the happiest would be the Filipino, who would benefit most as Obiena resumes his gold-winning dreams on the international stage. Cheers!