Meralco forced the latest saga of its never-ending rivalry with Barangay Ginebra to a rubber match in their PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals series following Friday’s 108-104 victory at Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Having done that with their first win over the Gin Kings this season, the Bolts know too well that they’ll need to be even better in the decider if they want to end up as the victor of their fifth do-or-die encounter with Ginebra and march to the semifinals where NorthPort awaits.
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“We really have to play on another level,” coach Luigi Trillo said after enduring a foul-prone evening and a persistent Ginebra squad that doggedly tried to complete a sweep. “That means less mistakes, focus on toughness.”
Game 3 is set for Sunday at Ynares Center in Antipolo City as they break a 2-2 deadlock in series deciders. The winner then advances to the next round to slug it out with the Batang Pier, the top-ranked team after the eliminations who did short work of Magnolia in their quarterfinal series.
Ginebra won the first two, winning Game 7 of the 2017 Governors’ Cup Finals before 54,000 fans at Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan, before prevailing in Game 5 of the 2020 Philippine Cup semis without any fans in the bubble in Pampanga.
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Meralco was triumphant in the next two, in Game 3 of the 2022 Philippine Cup quarterfinals at Mall of Asia Arena and Game 7 of the 2024 Philippine Cup semis in San Jose, Batangas.
Whose happy ending?
This time, the two teams will climb to the country’s pilgrimage capital to see which one gets to write a happy ending to this chapter.
“We can’t come into a fight without being ready,” said Trillo. “Looking forward to that, we will watch what we need to do. It’s a different chapter with a lot of new guys on the other side. That’s why we have to be ready.”
The Bolts dropped Game 1, 100-92, two nights prior at Smart Araneta Coliseum despite taking a slim lead twice in the fourth. This time, they made sure that their margin, which went as high as 12, would be sustained.
That is even after import Akil Mitchell, Cliff Hodge and Chris Newsome, who scored 24 points with five assists, had to play with five fouls apiece.
Big lift
Meralco, however, got a superb lift from longtime wingman Jansen Rios, whose 15 points that included some key three-pointers kept Ginebra at bay while helping on defense.
Rios has become a significant part of the rotation, saying his inspiration is his new baby.
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Justin Brownlee scored 36 points in the defeat, though Ginebra had an opportunity to tie it up when rookie RJ Abarrientos went for a four-pointer.
Abarrientos, however, couldn’t nail the contested shot from the left side, and Ginebra is now left to begin processing what went wrong and what it needs to adjust in order to prevail against an old foe.
