Chiefs fortify semis bid
It’s one of Philippine basketball’s most enduring, if bewildering, phenomena. I am talking about the overwhelming, unconditional love of Barangay Ginebra fans for their basketball team, the Gin Kings.
It’s almost like these two — Gin Kings and Ginebra fans — are wedded to each other, vowing to stay together, through thick and thin, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till…
How else explain the uninterrupted popularity of a basketball team whose PBA fortunes have had more busts than boom? The team has lost more finals than it has won, 9 of 23, and has lulls of as many as eight years between wins. Yet fans have stayed loyal, as though bound to a sacred vow.
That link between fans and players is never more evident than now, when Barangay Ginebra is on the cusp of winning the Governors’ Cup for a second straight year. It leads Meralco, 2-0, in the best-of-seven finals, with Game 3 set tonight.
Fan adoration has been evident and visible everywhere, whether the game is held outside Metro Manila, as was the first game in Batangas, or mounted at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, as was the second game last Sunday. Both had seismic impacts.
The coliseum, in particular, pulsated with every Ginebra shot. With a short jumper, it vibrated. With a threepointer, it shook. And with a dunk, the venerable dome went into a deep low rumble. With so much of shaking going on, even a shot as mundane as a Ginebra foul throw added to the tremor.
It is not a surprise, therefore, that all teams, even Ginebra’s own sister squads, fear the prospect of facing the Gin Kings in the finals — or, for that matter, in the semifinals or in any other game period. Ginebra, they concede, plays with the advantage of having six players, the sixth being a crowd so impassioned it can boo the competition out of the dome.
Psychologists have tried to explain the Ginebra phenomenon, and have come up short. They can’t say just why it is, but the sharpest explanation may be that which traces the roots of the adoration and hysteria to the moment in 1990 when Ginebra, on the verge of losing a championship series, rallied for the win. It was a defining moment. Fans had not seen a team as purposeful, as determined, and as courageous in a long time. On the court, as in life, that matters.
That day gave birth to Ginebra’s lasting image as the team that never says die, an image that lives to this day. This is also why, even if the Gins are down by 20 points, with three minutes to go, and most fans start trekking to the exits, Ginebra fans will stay put. They expect that miracle. Most times the miracle doesn’t happen, but sometimes it actually does — and that keeps the fans in their seats to the last second of the game.
The phenomenon is not lost on the PBA. Over the years, even as the league encourages equal opportunity, Ginebra has always been treated special. See how most, if not all, Ginebra games are held on a Sunday — the better to give fans the best day in the week to watch a basketball game.
Credit Robert Jaworski for making “never say die” happen. With his guidance, coaching, and plain charisma, he has made that phrase stick to Ginebra, handing the team an unbeatable trademark.
The man has also single-handedly created what can only be called a cult. Long after his retirement, the Big J, now 71, remains Ginebra’s big hero — and the man knows how to play the part. He has popped up at Ginebra games, as he did again last Sunday, in Game 2, where he was applauded, photographed, congratulated, and mobbed, as though he had made the winning shot in the Kings’ victory.
Ginebra has many stars, but Jaworski still shines brightest.
Games Tomorrow (The Arena, San Juan City) 12 noon – Lyceum vs San Beda (Jrs) 2 p.m. – Lyceum vs San Beda (Srs) 4 p.m. – San Sebastian vs Perpetual (Srs) 6 p.m. – San Sebastian vs Perpetual (Jrs)
Life goes on for the Arellano University Chiefs even without top playmaker Kent Salado.
With diminutive guard Levi Dela Cruz taking over, the resurgent Chiefs crushed the Mapua Cardinals 81-64 yesterday to gain at least a playoff for the fourth and final semifinal slot in the 93rd NCAA seniors basketball at The Arena in San Juan City.
The 5-foot-9 Dela Cruz stood tall with a team-high 20 points, eight in the final period, on top of five assists, three rebounds and two steals, doing his best impersonation of the injured Salado who has been ruled out for the rest of the season due to a torn medical cruciate ligament on his right knee.
More importantly, Dela Cruz steered Arellano to its fourth straight victory and help close out its elimination round campaign with an even 9-9 mark, seizing the fourth and final spot in the process.
The Chiefs could formally secure a return trip to the Final Four if Letran (8-9) drops its final assignment against St. Benilde which is being played at press time and host San Sebastian (8-9) falls prey to also-ran Perpetual Help tomorrow.
“For a rookie, he’s very outstanding,” said Arellano coach Jerry Codiñera of Dela Cruz whom he sees as a “mini version” of former star playmaker Jio Jalalon. “Napalaki ng future niya. He just needs to mature well and continue his improvement.”
Big man Christian Buñag put on another remarkable performance of 22 points and 16 rebounds but Mapua ran out of steam in the crunch and wound up dead-last with a 3-15 record — its worst finish in the last four years.
Earlier, also-ran Emilio Aguinaldo College salvaged some pride by edging Perpetual Help 83-81.
Forward Jerome Garcia sizzled with 22 points, spiked by four triples, while pro-bound Sidney Onwubere collected 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists in his farewell game as the Generals snapped a five-game losing skid and closed out their campaign on a positive note