King-sized win gives Beermen 2-1 lead
Game tomorrow (Smart Araneta Coliseum) 7 p.m. – Ginebra vs San Miguel
From blowout to blowout to ghastly rout. San Miguel Beer turned a thriller of a halftime showdown to a chiller of a finish with a 132-94 romp over the embattled Barangay Ginebra side for a 2-1 edge in Game Three of the PB A Commissioner’ s Cup Final sat the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.
Just when the series seemed to turn to a worthy title showdown after sleepers of opening games, the Beermen simply dismantled the Kings with a gut-wrenching third quarter onslaught behind Chris Ross’ crisp outside shooting and the rest of the Beermen’s incisive passing and running game .
They were simply superior over the listless Kings.
San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra went at it hammer and tongs in the first half then the Beermen simply poured it on after the halftime break on the way to another lopsided victory in this bizarre PBA finals.
The Beermen turned a two-point game at the half to another blowout game in the end on a 39-point explosion in the third period and a 40-point show in the final canto.
“I’m not expecting this. It’s weird with blowout games from Game One. But I have to give credit to my players. I can see in their eyes that they really wanted to win,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.
“We came out a bit slow then we picked up our game especially in the third period. And the guys were completely focused in the final half,” added Austria, making special mention of Balkman and Ross.
Balkman and Ross, bucking cuts on the eyebrow and above the eyebrow, respectively, led their mighty third-quarter rampage with a combined 22-point output.
The SMB import punished the Kings on furious post attacks and finished with 28 points and 11 rebounds while Ross dealt Ginebra a tremendous beating from the outside, hitting seven three-pointers and a total of 23 markers that went with seven rebounds and five assists.
June Mar Fajardo ran his own show with 22 markers and 15 rebounds while Arwind Santos and Christian Standhardinger came through with big help off the bench, combining for 33 points and 12 boards.
The mighty SMB core rotation put on another remarkable performance, easily negating Justin Brownlee’s 32-point game as the Beermen made it two in a row in the series following their 134-109 rout in Game Two.
It was a nip-and-tuck game until the Beermen returned from the halftime break with their guns ablaze.
Balkman and his teammates clobbered the Kings, 39-21, in the third on 4-of-8 three-point shooting by Ross and Marcio Lassiter and on a 14-of-21 overall clip.
The scores: San Miguel 132 – Balkman 28, Ross 23, Fajardo 22, Lassiter 12, Standhardinger 12, Santos 11, Cabagnot 9, Nabong 6, Pessumal 5, Heruela 4, Lanete 0.
Ginebra 94 – Brownlee 32, Caguioa 12, Slaughter 9, Mercado 7, Devance 7, Tenorio 5, Mariano 5, Chan 5, Ferrer 5, Aguilar J. 4, Thompson 3, Caperal 0, Manuel 0.
Quarterscores: 30-27, 53-51, 92-72, 132-94