Game today:
(FPJ Arena)
7:30 p.m. -- Meralco vs Ginebra
It all boils down to who wants it more.
Meralco head coach Luigi Trillo braces for a slugfest when they battle Barangay Ginebra for the last remaining finals spot in Game 7 of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup
best-of-seven semifinals series today at the FPJ Arena in San Jose, Batangas.
The two proud squads facing off for the eighth time in the playoffs since 2016 travel down south for a
slam-bang out-of-town battle that is expected to draw a packed house in the 3,000-seater stadium.
Batangueños are in for a treat as the equally-matched teams throw everything they got in the 7:30 p.m. clash for the right to challenge defending champion San Miguel Beer in the best-of-seven finals series that begins Wednesday next week.
Trillo said the past results, strategies, tendencies and future plans should all be thrown out of the window because the kill-or-be-killed battle will go down to who wants it more.
“There’s not a lot both teams can do at this point. It’s more of a mental thing, right? It’s either you have it or you don’t,” said Trillo, who is very much familiar with the game plan of Ginebra coach Tim Cone after serving as his deputy at the defunct Alaska franchise for 11 years.
The Bolts forced a rubber match after holding off the Kings, 86-81, in a low-scoring Game 6 last Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Trillo doesn’t want to claim Meralco has the momentum after knotting the series at three games apiece.
After all, a star-studded, disciplined and
well-experienced team coached by Cone will surely not go down without putting up a fight.
“They have the same belief probably that they believe in their players, we believe on our players. We’ve assembled a cast, we’ve drafted guys, we’ve nurtured them and they’re making the right decisions. But you realize to beat Ginebra, it has to be hard,” Trillo said.
“I don’t know if there’s momentum thing or anything. But we just need to zone in on what we need to do game plan-wise. That’s what needs to be done.”
Meralco will pin its hopes on veterans Chris Newsome, Chris Banchero, Cliff Hodge and Allein Maliksi, who poured 12 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter creating the separation in Game 6.
Backing them up are Bong Quinto, Raymond Almazan and young center Brandon Bates, who has been doing a terrific job holding his own against Ginebra’s big men.
The series has been unpredictable as the Kings won the opener before the Bolts captured the next two. Ginebra would win Games 4 and 5 but failed to wrap it up in six.
Cone was perplexed about how his team missed the opportunity of finishing off Meralco and being forced to travel outside of the Big City for a winner-take-all match which he vocally wished to avoid after going up, 3-2, in the series.
“What can I say — Game 7,” Cone said as he briskly walked away from the media after a disappointing loss.
But the odds still favor the Kings.
