Bocaue — With the gin — err, bubbly chilled — and multi-colored balloons proclaiming another championship now hanging from the rafters, Barangay Ginebra tries to finally put Meralco away and become just the fourth team in PBA history to repeat as Governors’ Cup champion.
The Gin Kings are sitting on a 3-2 lead but aren’t taking things for granted, going about their usual hard routine on Tuesday to make sure that things will be in order for them at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the Philippine Arena here where they can ignite another mammoth celebration like they did last season.
More than 36,000 fans trooped to the cavernous venue on Sunday and rocked the place like crazy, especially when Ginebra broke away in the final 6:25 to turn what was a close game into an authoritative triumph.
Tim Cone did not deviate from the regular hard team work out as he had declared after an 85-74 win on Sunday night that they would like to play just one more game and close out this series as Ginebra will join San Miguel Beer, San Mig Coffee and Alaska as the only repeat champions of the season-ending conference.
“You have to get the guys ready,” Cone said as Ginebra comes into Game 6 with all the momentum it needs, as the way the Kings carved out the Sunday win could have also taken something out of the Bolts.
Last season, this series came very close to playing a rubber match before Justin Brownlee hit a three-pointer at the buzzer that ended Ginebra’s eight-year wait for a championship.
Meralco would surely like to have the chance to come that close again and hopefully, pull this one out and keep alive the franchise’s quest for a breakthrough championship.
“It’s do-or-die for us and we just have to play our best game to stay alive,” said Meralco’s Norman Black in laying down what has to be done as the Bolts try to dig as deep as they can to salvage this one.
Allen Durham remains to be the key for Meralco, and the reigning two-time Best Import will see some unfinished business from last year end unresolved again if he can’t carry his team through this.
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