By Jonas Terrado
Game Today
(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
7 p.m. – San Miguel vs Ginebra
(Series tied 1-1)
Fans of both San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel can only hope for a better outcome this time as their teams look to take a 2-1 lead tonight in Game 3 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The first two games of the best-of-seven affair have a combined winning margin of 53 points with Ginebra taking the opening salvo on Friday, 127-99, before San Miguel made a counterattack two nights later, 134-109.
“They played well in Game 1, we played well in Game 2,” San Miguel guard Alex Cabagnot said. “That’s just the ebony-ivory flow of the series.”
Ginebra coach Tim Cone is likewise bracing for a tight duel in the match set at 7 p.m., the winner moving halfway closer to reigning supreme in the midseason tournament.
“So we got one blowout, they got one blowout, so we’ll see what happens in Game 3,” Cone said. “Usually that means it’s gonna be a nice tight game in Game 3, both teams will be coming out ready to go.”
A more-intense contest is also expected after things heat up in Game 2 that saw San Miguel’s Arwind Santos and Chris Ross getting ejected for a pair of incidents late in the fourth quarter.
Coach Leo Austria would like to see his players display more composure this time around.
“As a coach, I don’t want that to happen because you can’t be sure of what’s going to happen until the last buzzer,” Austria said.
Cabagnot’s 33-point explosion in Game 2 was almost a carbon copy of Ginebra’s import Justin Brownlee’s outburst in Game 1 where he made 17-of-19 shots to finish with 44 points.
Brownlee put up 29 points on 11-of-14 shooting but had five turnovers that highlighted Ginebra’s error-prone Game 2.
But Cone will perhaps be satisfied if he can get more from LA Tenorio, Greg Slaughter, Joe Devance, Scottie Thompson, Sol Mercado, Jeff Chan and Japeth Aguilar.
Rookie Christian Standhardinger has emerged as the San Miguel’s consistent performer with 23.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists in the series, a timely production the Beermen hope will continue to compliment June Mar Fajardo, import Renaldo Balkman, Cabagnot, Ross, Santos and Marcio Lassiter.
