No dubiety on Beer-Gin affair

Doubts were raised when San Miguel Beer and Ginebra came up with rusty starts in the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup.

But when super imports Renaldo Balkman and Justin Brownlee came on board, those doubters turned into believers.

The Beermen and the Kings will open their best-of-seven finals series on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, looking to pen a fitting ending to a magical campaign that started at the bottom all the way to a grand finale.

San Miguel coach Leo Austria and Ginebra mentor Tim Cone admitted that their starts were far from ideal with the Beermen hiring Troy Gillenwater while the Kings parading Charles Garcia to kick off their campaigns with 0-3 and 1-5 cards, respectively.

Then, Balkman and Brownlee came to the rescue.

After powering Alab Pilipinas to the Asean Basketball League title, Balkman and Brownlee quickly turned things around as they powered the Beermen and the Kings to the middle of the pack at the end of elimination round.

San Miguel swept corporate rival Talk ‘N Text while Ginebra dominated Meralco in the quarterfinals.

In the semifinals, they took a 3-1 series win over Alaska and Rain or Shine, respectively.

With those blazing runs, both San Miguel and Ginebra became the lowest seeds to reach the finals since 2004 when sixth seed Ginebra defeated Red Bull in the Fiesta Conference.

Now, the intertwined fortunes of these sister teams will go separate ways.

“This series will be very interesting because we both came from the cellar at the start of the eliminations,” said Austria, who steered the Beermen to their 40th finals appearance.

“We struggled for the sixth seed and now we’re in the finals.”

Cone, the league’s most decorated mentor, agrees, saying that rising from the cellar all the way to the finals is already a massive achievement.

“I’m happy where we are. We’re happy to reach this point and play against San Miguel,” said Cone, adding that facing a talented team like the Beermen will be such a major challenge.

“It’s a great challenge. There’s nothing more challenging in our league than playing San Miguel, which might be the greatest team of all time.”

While there are equally interesting storylines in the looming epic finals series like the battle between Brownlee and Balkman and the renewal of the rivalry between June Mar Fajardo and Greg Slaughter, the chess match between the two mentors surely deserves to be on the spotlight.

Austria is the most successful mentor today after winning six titles in seven trips to the finals while Cone holds 20 diadems in his collection.

And with all things equal, it’s a match made in heaven that would all boils down to who wants it more.

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