The stage is set as San Miguel Beer and Ginebra open their Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup best-of-seven finals series today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Game 1 fires off at 7 pm with both the Beermen and the Kings bracing for an all-out war to draw the first blood in this finals series that has all the ingredients of becoming a classic.

Both squads started the conference on a sour note with 0-3 and 1-5 win-loss cards, respectively, before calling in super imports Renaldo Balkman and Justin Brownlee to restore order and blaze all the way to a grand finale.

Now that they’re here, San Miguel is looking to cement its reputation as the “greatest team of all time” while Ginebra is looking to affirm its status as the “people’s champion.”

“I would say they are the greatest team of all time,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone, elevating this batch of Beermen to the same pedestal where the likes of Crispa, Toyota and triumphant San Miguel and Alaska squads of different eras as standing.

“I don’t think I don’t think anybody has been consistently, conference to conference dominant like San Miguel has.”

With four-time Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo at the helm, the Beermen are the most dominant team for the past three and a half years as they won six titles in the past 10 conferences, including four straight Philippine Cup titles.

“I think San Miguel has the edge, experience, confidence and knowledge to win at this level,” said Cone, who owns a total of 20 PBA crowns.

“The fact that they’re the defending champion gives them confidence. A lot of factors in the championship are all about confidence.”

But Austria refused to get drowned by the gentle words blurted out by the most successful mentor in the league.

“I’m so thankful because they’re admiring what we did in the past three years. But it’s not a guarantee that we will win another championship,” he said.

“It’s nice to have that mini-achievement, you keep telling me that I’m six out of six in the finals. But this is already my seventh and there’s no guarantee that I will win another championship – especially against Ginebra.”

Also serving as a gigantic plot in this titular showdown is the clash Fajardo and Greg Slaughter, the two giants who figured in a handful of memorable battles when they were still competing in the Cebu Athletic Schools Foundation, Inc.

Their duel, which last happened in 2009 when Slaughters’ University of Cebu dominated Fajardo’s University of the Visayas in 2009, was supposed to happen last year, but the Ginebra star crashed with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, promoting the Beermen to run away with the Philippine Cup crown.

And now that he’s back, Cone believes that it’s going to be an explosive battle.

“With Greg back, I think we match up with them very well. I know it’s going to be a really tough series,” said Cone.

Also expected to provide fireworks is the battle between Balkman and Brownlee, the reinforcements who lifted the Asean Basketball League crown three months ago.

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