Game today:

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)

7:30 p.m. — San Miguel vs Ginebra 

Defending champion San Miguel Beer is now in the hardest part of a series: Closing it out.

The Beermen get the first of two cracks at finishing off Barangay Ginebra in Game 6 of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Philippine Cup semifinals today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Game time is set at 7:30 p.m., with TNT eagerly waiting in the wings for its championship rival.

San Miguel regained the lead in the best-of-seven series, 3-2, with a 115-109 win on Wednesday at the same Cubao venue.

However, Beermen head coach Leo Austria knows the Kings won’t just roll over and die.

In fact, San Miguel will try to prevent a repeat of last year’s all-Filipino conference, which went the full distance.

“This is also a possibility because we know Ginebra’s NSD, never-say-die spirit,” Austria said, bracing for a tough resistance from the men of decorated mentor Tim Cone.

“But we’ve learned our lesson.”

San Miguel is once again looking at nine-time Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo producing monster numbers after slowly recovering from a shoulder injury.

Fajardo ended a two-game scoring slump by dropping 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in Game 5.

Austria will also rely on CJ Perez, Don Trollano, Marcio Lassiter, Chris Ross and Mo Tautuaa to seal the Beermen’s second straight finals appearance and a rematch against TNT.

Cone, on the other hand, wants to write the same script as the last time and send the showdown to a decider on Sunday.

“We can’t get to a Game 7, winner-take-all, unless we take care of Game 6,” Cone said.

“That’s where our focus is going to be.”

Ginebra was actually in the same situation as last year, forcing a winner-take-all behind the clutch three-pointer of former guard and now Magnolia coach LA Tenorio.

But there’s no Tenorio this time. With that, Scottie Thompson, RJ Abarrientos, Stephen Holt and Japeth Aguilar must play their A-games to extend the series.

And in Game 7, with the momentum swinging to the Kings’ side, anything can happen.

Should the Beermen emerge victorious, they will forge a finals rematch with TNT, which booked the first seat in the best-of-seven championship after finishing off Meralco in five outings on Wednesday.