Barangay Ginebra likes chances vs SMB in finals
THE Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings got another shot at facing the San Miguel Beermen in a Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) finals after booking a place in the championship series of the ongoing Commissioner’s Cup on Monday night. It is a situation that the Kings are comfortable to be in, believing they have “a good chance” against the loaded Beermen.
Defeating the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 96-94, in Game Four of their best-of-five semifinal series, the Barangay Ginebra progressed to the finals of the midseason PBA tournament, 3-1, setting up a matchup with defending champion San Miguel.
The upcoming best- of- seven championship series between the Kings and Beermen marks the first time that the two will meet in the Big Dance since battling for the Philippine Cup title in 2017 where San Miguel dominated, 4-1.
This time around, while still recognizing that they have their work cut out for them against the Beermen, the Kings are confident of giving their opponents a better fight, if not beat them altogether.
“San Miguel is great team and is a handful. Renaldo Balkman is a good fit for them and we can see that from how they play,” said Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone following their Game Four victory over Rain or Shine.
“But I like our chances against them this time around. I’m not saying we are going to beat them outright but we should compete better against them. It’s going to be another classic match between us,” he added.
Experiencing a major resurgence in the tournament after starting their campaign with one win and five losses, Mr. Cone gave credit to his players for rising up to the challenge and never giving up even as he said they hope to continue building on the momentum they have generated.
“We have won 10 of our last 11 games. Credit to the players for not hanging their heads after a 1-5 start. They could have easily given up but here we are now, in the finals against San Miguel,” said the PBA’s winningest coach with 20 titles under his belt.
Mr. Cone went on to say that seven-foot center Greg Slaughter, who missed the 2017 Philippine Cup finals because of injury, now available should help them in their cause against San Miguel and its own giant, June Mar Fajardo.
But the champion coach also said the health of Japeth Aguilar (Achilles) is a concern for them.
“Greg will be a big help but Japeth is not one hundred percent healthy and that’s the key. He is trying his best to play and give us good minutes. If both of them are healthy it will be good for us. Good thing we have three days to prepare before playing our first game in the finals,” said Mr. Cone, who also shared he is looking forward to another coaching back and forth with San Miguel counterpart Leo Austria.
Game One of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals is on Friday, July 27, at 7 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.