Dream matchup
It’s a matchup that’s a fan’s dream come true. San Miguel Beer, stoking the fires of a possible Grand Slam, goes for its second straight title against Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup best-of-7 Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum starting tomorrow. Both teams are entering the Last Dance with identical 11-6 records.
For a while, neither San Miguel nor Ginebra looked like a serious championship contender. The Beermen got off to a 0-3 start despite highly-touted rookie Christian Standhardinger’s arrival. When Standhardinger went down with a swollen knee, San Miguel won seven and lost two to set up a semifinal showdown against Alaska. Standhardinger was back in harness to join the battle against the Aces who were booted out in four of a best-of-5 series.
Original import Troy Gillenwater turned out to be a dud and difficult to handle, prompting coach Leo Austria to recall Renaldo Balkman. It took the PBA Board of Governors and commissioner Willie Marcial to give Balkman the gosignal to return after ending his lifetime suspension stemming from an outburst in a 2013 game.
Ginebra also had a poor start, going 0-2 and losing five of its first six. Coach Tim Cone also made an import switch, striking out Chuck Garcia after four games and bringing back Justin Brownlee. Curiously, both Balkman and Brownlee came fresh from leading Alab Pilipinas to the ABL throne. Now, the former teammates will go up against each other in a monumental duel.
Balkman, 34, is averaging 28.1 points, 12.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 4.9 turnovers and 41.1 minutes, hitting zero from threepoint distance on 0-of-5 and 54.7 percent from two-point range. He’s shooting 71.3 percent from the line.
Brownlee, 30, is averaging 28.1 points, 12.5 rebounds, 6.6 assists, 3.8 turnovers and 41.5 minutes, hitting 36 percent from beyond the arc and 55.1 percent from two-point distance. He leads all imports in free throw accuracy with 84.8 percent. It’s uncanny that Balkman and Brownlee are averaging exactly the same number of points and nearly the same average minutes.
At center, it will be San Miguel’s JuneMar Fajardo against Ginebra’s Greg Slaughter. Gregzilla isn’t quite as prolific as the Kraken who’s averaging 20.2 points and 12 rebounds but he’ll surely draw attention from the back-to-back-to-backto-back MVP at the post. Other possible match-ups to watch are Japeth Aguilar against Standhardinger, Jeff Chan against Marcio Lassiter, L. A. Tenorio against Chris Ross, Joe De Vance against Arwind Santos and Scottie Thompson against Alex Cabagnot. The versatility of players on both sides will allow for multiple cross pairings as the coaches look to play chess in trying to create mismatches.
San Miguel’s lineup has five players at least 35 compared to three from Ginebra so experience is on Austria’s side. Five Beermen are averaging at least 30 minutes while only three are playing as much with Ginebra, meaning Austria plays a shorter rotation. For Ginebra, it’s critical for Cone to play a deep rotation because he likes to grind it out and prefers a defense-oriented, low-scoring game. The challenge to deploy fresh legs is tougher on Ginebra.
In San Miguel’s 11 wins, the Beermen averaged 109.6 points and in six losses, the clip fell to 99.8. Clearly, San Miguel is an offense-minded squad, ranking No. 2 in the league in average points. It’s the reverse with Ginebra. In 11 wins, Ginebra held opponents to an average of 88.6 and in six losses, surrendered 102.2. Ginebra is No. 1 in field goal percentage allowed at 40.7. If Ginebra is able to hold San Miguel to less than 90 points in a game, the probability is it wins.
If the imports neutralize each other, it will be up to the locals to decide the outcome of the Finals. That means if Fajardo dominates and Slaughter isn’t able to contain him, the series is ripe for the Kraken to break open. But if Slaughter holds his own against Fajardo, anything could happen. Game 2 is set on Sunday, Game 3 on Wednesday and Game 4 next Friday. The Finals could be one of the PBA’s most exciting matchups ever.