Locked in a see-saw battle, the San Mig Coffee Mixers turned to their big men down the stretch to survive the Rain or Shine Elasto, 77-76, last night in Game 3 of the 39th PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven finals at the Araneta Coliseum.
Joe Devance and Marc Pingris played beautiful music together in a crucial stretch, conniving in two big offensive plays as the Coffee Mixers made it two-in-a-row to grab the series lead, 2-1.
San Mig easily won Game 2, 80-70.
It was the first time since the semifinal round that San Mig won back-to-back games. Rain or Shine won Game 1, 83-80, on a game-winning lay-up by Paul Lee, who celebrated his birthday that day.
It was Devance’s turn to shine on his natal day as he gave himself a fitting birthday present with a stellar performance in the endgame.
Assisted by Pingris, Devance scored four straight points that gave the the Coffee Mixers a 77-74 lead with 2:59 to go.
San Mig would not score after that but did just enough to escape with the win.
A basket by Jervy Cruz pushed Rain or Shine within 76-77 with 1:24 to play. The two teams traded empty possessions and Rain or Shine had the chance to steal the lead when James Yap air-balled a three-point shot with 10.6 seconds to play.
The Elasto Painters, however, couldn’t capitalize in the next possession as Jeff Chan settled for a contested, long three-point shot that fell short.
Peter June Simon topped the Coffee Mixers with 14 points, while Devance and Yap contributed 13 points each. Rookie Ian Sangalang gave a good account of himself by chipping in 12 markers.
After scoring a combined 13 points in the first two games of the series, Paul Lee exploded for 23 markers in a losing cause.
BOX SCORES
SAN MIG (77) – Simon 14, Devance 13, Yap 13, Sangalang 12, Barroca 8, Pingris 7, Mallari 5, Reavis 4, Melton 1, De Ocampo 0.
RAIN OR SHINE 76 – Lee 23, Chan 11, Cruz 10, Almazan 7, Belga 6, Rodriguez 6, Quinahan 5, Norwood 4, Tiu 2, Ibanes 2, Tang 0, Teng 0.QUARTERSCORES: 19-20, 38-39, 63-64, 77-76.
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