It’s the greatest two words in team sports: Game Seven.
Meralco and defending champion Barangay Ginebra San Miguel collide for all the marbles in the PBA Governors’ Cup today at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.
This marks the first time that the Kings and the Bolts are playing in a Game 7, although coaches Tim Cone of Ginebra and Norman Black of Meralco have met once in a deciding seventh encounter in a PBA championship.
It occurred during the 1995 Governors’ Cup when they were still with their original teams – Cone with Alaska and Black with San Miguel Beer.
Cone and Alaska won 99-86.
“He was the guy I emulated and copied as I took my coaching career forward,” said Cone of Black. “Honestly, if he didn’t spend all those years at Ateneo, he’d probably be the winningest coach right now, not me.
Cone holds the record for most titles in the PBA with 19, ahead of his idol Baby Dalupan’s 15, while Black has 11.
Both are also Grand Slam mentors.
Black completed the feat in 1989 with SMB while Cone achieved the league’s version of the Triple Crown twice – with Alaska in 1996 and San Mig Super Coffee (now Star Hotshots) in 2014.
