Black bounceback bleak in Game Three?
IF a team scores only one point in the last 4:47 minutes or so of a basketball game, can it still win? What a silly question. Of course, it will surely lose, unless its opponent suddenly walks away from the hard court.
Well, for the sake of argument, it depends.
If that team is ahead by 20 points before falling into that one-point hole in the stretch, it can still win.
Even if its opponent can unload 19 points in that same span of time, the beleaguered team will end up winning by one.
But that was not the case Sunday night in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
Meralco was ahead by 8 points 75-67 when it suffered that one-point blackout—literally.
Grotesquely, the Bolts bought a mere free throw for its final point in that ill-fated game, through a charity by Ranidel de Ocampo.
While Meralco succumbed to Ginebra’s deadliest defense of the year, the Gin Kings came up with their most devastating offense of the decade.
Led by the irrepressible L.A. Tenorio, the Kings unloaded 19 points coming home, establishing that 19-1 windup as the league’s best all-time finishing kick.
And with Ginebra’s 86-76 victory, fashioned before Gin King legends Robert Jaworski and Francis Arnaiz joining a sell-out crowd at the Araneta Coliseum, Meralco suddenly found itself in a 0-2 bind in the best-of-seven Finals.
Literally pushed against the wall, the Bolts face the specter of becoming the 31st victim in 36 situations when a team is behind 0-2.
So that for all intents and purposes, Meralco, also beaten black and blue by Ginebra in Game One in Lucena City, is in dire straits.
It will fight for dear life when it plays Ginebra for Game Three on Wednesday, also at Araneta. It is survival. If Meralco survives, Game Four is on Friday, again at Araneta.
Sharing heroics with Tenorio on Sunday was Scottie Thompson, whose last-minute explosions repeatedly drew fits of joy from Big Cop Bato.
A Davaoeno like Thompson, Bato even had a selfie with Jaworski at ringside, an obvious proof making him a certified Ginebra fan.
Can coach Norman Black and his Bolts bounce back from that Game Two blackout?
Your guess is as good as mine.