There was never any doubt, even with Mahindra coach Manny Pacquiao in attendance
In what turned out to be a formality and a celebration for the Barangay, the Ginebra San Miguel claimed the top seed in the 2017 PBA Commissioner’s Cup playoffs, scoring a 94-80 win over the Mahindra Floodbuster, Friday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
This is the first time Ginebra are the top seed entering the playoffs since the 2013-14 Philippine Cup. However, 19-time champion head coach Tim Cone is wary of the pressure that comes with it.
“It’s nice to be the number one seed but there’s expectations that comes with it. We can’t put too much pressure on ourselves, that’s really the goal at this point,” Cone said.
Ginebra finished their elimination round campaign with a 9-2 record, while Mahindra, a team that has yet to beat the Gin Kings since their inception back in 2014, ended their run with a 3-8 slate.
A huge 15-0 blast that bridged the first and second frames gave the Gin Kings a 32-16 edge at the 10:06 mark of the second frame, courtesy of a Mark Caguioa jumper. The Ginebra lead would swell to as high as 17 points, 50-33, after a Justin Brownlee triple early in the third frame.
Brownlee scored 10 of his 19 points in the first half while gobbling up 10 rebounds, being the only Gin King to play more than 30 minutes in the game.
“We were trying to conserve some of our minutes like for Joe [Devance]. He is having some foot problems again,” Cone shared.
Mahindra could only get the lead down to as low as seven points, 68-61, with 11 minutes remaining in the game, as Ginebra proved to be too much for the three-year-old franchise.
“We didn’t play that well but I got to give Mahindra some credit,” Cone remarked. “We didn’t have the flow that we wanted but the bottomline is that we’re moving on and secured the top seed.”
Ginebra’s bench scored 37 points and were led by Caguioa. The former MVP tallied 13 points on 6-for-11 shooting.
Keith Wright paced Mahindra with 21 points and 22 rebounds, while Glenn Khobuntin added 16 points and nine rebounds.
Rene Pacquiao, the 25th overall pick in the 2014 PBA Draft and cousin of Manny Pacquiao, made his PBA debut in the game after the team relegated Nico Elorde to the reserve list. The 6-foot-5 forward finished the game with six points.
Manny Pacquiao, on the other hand, is 0-2 this conference whenever he is present during Mahindra’s games.
Ginebra will await the winner of the Alaska Aces versus Globalport Batang Pier eliminator. The Aces-Batang Pier tilt will take place on Sunday, June 4. Ginebra will hold the twice-to-beat edge in the series that will begin on Tuesday, June 6.
The Scores:
Ginebra (94) – Brownlee 22, Aguilar 14, Caguioa 13, Mercado 9, Tenorio 8, Thompson 8, Devance 5, Ellis 4, Cruz 2, Jamito 2, Marcelo 2, Mariano 2, Taha 2, Ferrer 1.
Mahindra (80) – Wright 21, Khobuntin 16, Duetchman 13, Pacquiao 6, Revilla 6, Teng 5, Camson 3, Caperal 3, Celda 3, Salva 2, Yee 2, Paniamogan 0, Corpuz 0, Nimes 0, Ballesteros 0.
Quarterscores: 26-16, 47-33, 68-59, 94-80
