THE series clincher came from Justin Brownlee but he might not have been able get into the position to nail the crown if not for Jayjay Helterbrand and Mark Caguioa.
LA Tenorio bagged the Finals MVP plum but he might not have got a shot at it if not for “the Fast and the Furious.”
Barangay Ginebra’s title drought might not have been over if not for the team’s two old warriors.
Coach Tim Cone called Helterbrand and Caguioa “our series savers,” saying they’re the biggest catalysts in their title run punctuated by that booming trey by Brownlee at the buzzer triggering a deafening roar of a crowd of over 22,000 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Wednesday night.
Brownlee and his fateful trey lifted Ginebra to a 91-88 thriller of a win over Meralco, wrapping up a 4-2 win by the Gin Kings in the PBA Governors Cup best-of-seven championship series.
“Jay and Mark, they saved us the whole series. Honestly, they’re series savers. They played with such intensity, desire and hunger that rubbed off on everybody,” said Cone.
“Jay is normally quiet. But at the bench, he’s always yelling and screaming. He came to practice talking to everybody. They’re amazing. They’re absolutely amazing,” Cone also said.
“In times it looked we’re ready to give up, they didn’t let it happen. They honestly wouldn’t let it happen,” Cone added. “They saved Game Four. Without Game Four, we wouldn’t be here. The series was probably finished at five (games).”
The Kings blew a 16-point first-half lead and when the game looked like slipping away, Helterbrand and Caguioa came out and rallied the team back into the game.
In a brief 10-minute outing on his 40th birthday, Helterbrand put up a performance to remember, knocking in 11 points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting, with the last – a booming trey – breaking a 76-all standoff entering the last five minutes of play.
Then, Brownlee, Scottie Thompson and Joe Devance took over as the Kings stayed in the lead to the finish, squeezing through to reduce the best-of-seven series to a best-of-three affair.
The Helterbrand-Caguioa pair was also at it in the Game Six, playing key roles as they ended their quest for a first championship since their title run in the 2008 Fiesta Conference under Jong Uichico.
It’s no surprising that the two were the most determined as they agonized all through those eight years that the team was in limbo. They were the only remnants of the last Ginebra champion team.
They went through a drought spanning 14 tournaments marked by lots of heartaches and heartbreaks.
As Brownlee took the last possession of the series then dribbled thrice before launching a top-of-the-key three-pointer off Allen Durham that hit the mark, tears flowed. This time, it’s tears of joy from the Kings and from their multitude of fans.
Then Cone insisted it’s more about Helterbrand and Caguioa.
“We had that big run with Jay and Mark. Coach couldn’t do anything about that. It’s total emotion,” said Cone underscoring the great lift the team got on the emotional fire and spirit of the amazing duo./PBA.INQUIRER.NET