Arwind Santos was right.
The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel have eliminated the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 96-94, in Game Four of the semifinals Monday night to book a match with the San Miguel Beermen in the 2018 Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
This will be the first time the sister teams will clash in a title bout since the 2017 Philippine Cup. Ginebra’s bid to claim the throne from the Beermen will commence on Friday, July 27, still at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“We’re happy to be where we are, and we’re happy to play San Miguel,” said Ginebra head coach Tim Cone.
“They very well could be the greatest team of all time, so the challenge is out there for us and I think our guys are going to embrace it. It will be a tough series,” furthered Cone, who is gunning for his 21st PBA championship.
Frontline troopers Joe Devance and Greg Slaughter led the Barangay with 19 points apiece, with the former adding six assists while the latter had six rebounds. LA Tenorio chipped in 16 markers on 16 shots, along with six assists as well.
Devance and Tenorio led the way for Ginebra in crunchtime. When the Elasto Painters snatched the lead for the first time, 90-88, with 2:28 left in the game, the duo powered a 7-0 run to lift the Barangay, 95-90, with 37 ticks left.
The Elasto Painters though tried to will themselves back from the deficit. A Reggie Johnson underbasket stab, followed by perfect freebies from Chris Tiu cut the Barangay’s lead to just a point, 94-95, with seven seconds to go.
The door was still left open for Rain or Shine to come back when Jeffrei Chan only split his free throws with 2.4 seconds left. But Ginebra played great defense, as they deflected Rain or Shine’s inbound passes twice to seal the victory.
“What a battle, what an incredible battle,” exhaled Cone. “I’m so focused on the score, we just seemed to lead the whole way but we couldn’t separate ourselves from them. They are a team with such great poise.
“And, they’re just really tough down the stretch. We had some fortunate bounces that went our way, and somehow we pulled it out. I’m just happy not to play a Game Five against this team, they’re too good,” he added.
Justin Brownlee only had 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting in the win after erupting for 44 markers back in Game Three, but he still filled up the stat sheet with 17 rebounds and eight assists in over 44 minutes of playing time.
Workhorse Scottie Thompson, who grabbed huge rebounds on both ends in the end-game over taller opponents such as Johnson and Raymond Almazan, finished with 10 rebounds, six points, three steals, and an assist.
Johnson led the Elasto Painters with 22 points and 16 rebounds, with five assists, three steals, and two blocks. Almazan had 13 points and six boards, while Mark Borboran and veteran forward Jay Washington scored 11 each.
James Yap had 10 points in the loss.
The Scores:
Ginebra 96 – Slaughter 19, Devance 19, Tenorio 16, Brownlee 12, Chan 9, Thompson 6, J. Aguilar 6, Caguioa 4, Mercado 3, Ferrer 2, R. Aguilar 0, Mariano 0.
Rain or Shine 94 – Johnson 22, Almazan 13, Borboran 11, Washington 11, Yap 10, Norwood 8, Tiu 7, Ponferada 4, Nambatac 3, Daquioag 3, Belga 2, Ahanmisi 0
Quarterscores: 25-20, 47-40, 73-67, 96-94
