By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
THE best-of-seven finals of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup featuring the defending champions San Miguel Beermen and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings in a “Beverage War” begins today with Game One set for 7 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
A battle between two of the more popular teams in the league, the Beermen and Kings try to set early control of the series as they work to see their respective causes through.
San Miguel, also the Philippine Cup champion, hopes to add the midseason PBA title to stay on track of another shot at a Grand Slam while Barangay Ginebra shoots for a third title in six PBA conferences.
The two teams will face in the championship once again after meeting in the Philippine Cup finals in 2017 where the Beermen won in five games, 4-1.
The Beermen started the tournament on the wrong foot, losing their first three assignments but finished the classification phase strong, winning six of their last eight matches after deciding to replace original import Troy Gillenwater with erstwhile PBA-banned import Renaldo Balkman.
San Miguel wound up at sixth place heading into the playoffs where it continued with its turnaround, sweeping the third-seeded TNT KaTropa in their best-of-three quarterfinals before ousting the second-seeded Alaska Aces, 3-1, in their best-of-five semifinals to barge into the finals.
Now back in the finals, the Beermen expressed their readiness to take on all comers and defend the title they won last year over TNT.
“We’re happy we were able to pull ourselves through despite the tough start for us in the tournament. Good thing we replaced our import with Renaldo Balkman and the locals eventually found their game collectively and picked it up. In the finals it’s a 50/50 chance. Anything can happen,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria upon his team’s entry into the championship series.
“I think it will a good series against Ginebra. It is very hot right now. And I am sure they will come in very prepared for the series,” he added.
LIKE THEIR CHANCES
Like San Miguel, Barangay Ginebra had a rough start to the tournament, going 1-5 in its first six games that also saw it replace import midway.
It swept its last five matches in the elimination round to wind up at fifth place.
The Kings shut out the Meralco Bolts in the quarterfinals, 2-0, and got the better of top seeds Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the semifinals, 3-1.
The Kings recognize that they still have their work cut out for them against a team like San Miguel in the finals but nonetheless like their chances, especially with a beefed-up roster that includes Greg Slaughter, Jeff Chan and import Justin Brownlee.
“San Miguel is a great team and is a handful. Renaldo Balkman is a good fit for them and we can see that from how they play. But I like our chances against them this time around. I’m not saying we are going to beat them outright but we should compete better against them. It’s going to be another classic match between us,” said Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone, using the 2017 Philippine Cup finals as gauge of reference.
“We have won 10 of our last 11 games. [I give] credit to the players for not hanging their heads after a 1-5 start. They could have easily given up but here we are now, in the finals against San Miguel,” he added.
San Miguel is playing in its seventh finals in the last 11 PBA conferences and is looking to pad its total championship haul to 26.
Barangay Ginebra, for its part, is gunning for its 11th PBA title.
