By JONAS TERRADO
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and Meralco finally begin the latest chapter in their series of championship battles in the PBA Governors’ Cup Wednesday (April 6) with a huge crowd expected to fill the seats of the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The two teams look to draw first blood in the match set at 6 p.m., with the defending champion Gin Kings looking to take an initial step in extending their dominance over the title-hungry Bolts.
Ginebra, which won the previous three title meetings against the electric company, is wary of what Meralco can do this time.
“I consider our team as the underdogs,” said guard LA Tenorio. “We have to double our effort because they are a different team right now.”
But some, if not, most will consider Ginebra having the advantage, perhaps psychologically not only because of its repeated dominance over Meralco but also its run towards the finals despite finishing sixth in the eliminations.
Meralco, however, seems to be undeterred after having to go through a tough journey during the playoffs with wins over San Miguel Beer in the quarters and Magnolia Pambansang Manok in the semis.
“I think each loss was a lesson learned,” said Bolts energy guy Cliff Hodge. “I think we got more mature and I think we’ve learned how to win games and I feel like that’s gonna be big for us.”
It will be a different import matchup with Meralco’s Tony Bishop hoping to at least cancel things out with Ginebra’s ever-reliable Justin Brownlee.
That should take most of the attention on the locals with Ginebra going with Tenorio, Scottie Thompson, Christian Standhardinger, Nards Pinto and Jeff Chan.
The Gin Kings also have the edge on crowd support as fans will finally be back in the finals after the last two editions of the Philippine Cup held in either full or semi bubble setups were played in empty arenas.
Meralco hopes to see Hodge, Allein Maliksi, Aaron Black, Raymond Almazan and Chris Newsome play consistently throughout the series.
Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar and Aljon Mariano and Meralco’s remain question marks for the opener, though both teams will look to have them available at least some time during the series.
