The series now reduced to a virtual best-of-three, TNT and Barangay Ginebra will duke it out for the crucial third victory in Game 5 of the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup Finals later tonight at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Scheduled for a 7:30 tip-off under the same Big Dome lights that illuminated three of the title bout’s first four games, the two have their sights set on taking the 3-2 lead, which of course means moving a step closer to winning it all.
The Kings could’ve actually done as much and made Friday’s encounter a potential clincher after a convincing Game 3 at the Mall of Asia Arena, but the defending champs punched back in Game 4 last Wednesday.
With Jordan Heading and Chris McCullough leading the closeout, the Tropang 5G came away with the 106-98 victory, managing to do so after the crowd darlings surged back from down 20 and got to within eight late in the match.
Aside from spirited rallies, another trend in this series has been the exchange of wins between the long-time rivals, leading to a 2-2 stalemate after four.
Yes, neither team has posted back-to-back wins in this championship battle, and TNT would surely love to be the first to do so in Game 5, which, if they do, would move the crew just one win away from successfully defending the throne.
“It’s now down to a best-of-three. So, as you know, in the series, the longer it gets, it now becomes a battle of attrition,” said Coach Chot Reyes.
(C) PBA Images
But of course, Ginebra is out to prevent as much from happening, with its sights set on getting the same spunk it had that led to a 116-102 win in Game 3.
“We got beat up there in the second half,” lamented Coach Tim Cone moments after Game 4, hardly looking at their late rally as a silver lining. “They just totally outplayed us in the second half. We just looked like we were really tired.”
According to Casino Plus sportsbook, the Tropang 5G are a +2.5 underdog while the over/under points total is set at 197.0 as of 3:30 p.m.
Wagers can be placed here: https://www.casinoplus.com.ph/home/inGame?name=basketball&title=SportBet.
As usual, newly minted BPC and Best Import awardees in RJ Abarrientos and Justin Brownlee led the way, but the tandem hardly received the support it needed, particularly from guys such as Scottie Thompson and Stephen Holt.
From rousing performances in Game 3, the two combined for only nine points on 4-of-13 shooting. And it didn’t help that the bench guys, such as the troika of Ralph Cu, Isaac Go, and Jeremiah Gray, hardly contributed as well.
Cone actually widened his rotation by utilizing 11 men, but that didn’t work wonders, unlike with the opposing team, as Reyes went with nine players and received solid production from 39-year-old Jayson Castro and Henry Galinato.
With things now back to square one, Game 5 should boil down to a clash of who wants it more as the race to the ultimate prize heads into the home stretch.
