NORMAN BLACK is back in a familiar place that looks close to ugly. And he wants a different result this time.
In the Governors’ Cup Finals last season, Black and the Meralco Bolts found themselves trailing the race-to-four series, 2-3, after winning two straight to send the duel to square one.
This season, they are on the same boat and the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Gin Kings are one win away from repeating as champions of the Philippine Basketball Association’s season-ending conference.
“[Meralco import] Allen [Durham] understands that the next game will be very important to us,” Black said the morning after Game Five that Ginebra won, 85-74, before more than 36,000 fans at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan.
“They [Gin Kings] were well prepared and they came out very aggressive. We cannot let them get us first this time,” said Black, referring to the title-clinching play by Ginebra last season.
In the 2016 Finals, Justin Brownlee unleashed a top of the key triple at the buzzer that gave Barangay Ginebra a 91-88 Game Six victory for its first title in eight years.
Black vividly remembers that play, and so does his prized American reinforcement Durham, the two-time Best Import, who guarded Brownlee in the last-second play.
Game Six of the series will be tomorrow at 7 p.m. in the same cavernous Bulacan venue.
LA Tenorio was an Energizer bunny at work in Game Six and sparked a fiery start for Ginebra by scoring nine of his 17 points in the first period.
Meralco tried to erase an early 18-point margin, but Greg Slaughter and Brownlee stopped the bleeding as the Bolts trimmed the lead to seven before half time.
The Gin Kings slowed down in the third frame, with Durham and Garvo Lanete burning the hoops for Meralco.
The Bolts didn’t beg the balanced scoring Black wanted. Besides Durham’s 27 points and 19 rebounds, and Lanete’s 11 points on three three-pointers, no other Meralco player scored in double figures.
Reynel Hugnatan, who had solid numbers in Games Three and Four, was limited to eight points on three-of-seven shooting.
Cliff Hodge (six points), Jared Dillinger (six), Chris Newsome (five) and Baser Amer (four) were all shut down in Game Six.
“We want to have more contributions from the bench,” Black stressed.