Tropa vs Kings: Legacy clash

MANILA, Philippines — TNT and Barangay Ginebra are back on familiar territory – the PBA Last Dance.

The Tropang 5G stayed well in the hunt for back-to-back crowns by shutting the door on Meralco, 97-94, for a 4-2 verdict in the Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup semifinals.

The defending champs took the cue from the Gin Kings who sent off Rain or Shine, 118-107, in front of a record 11,321 crowd hours earlier at the Ynares Center Antipolo.

And thus, the stage is set for the two franchise’s fourth title confrontation in the last eight conferences beginning Wednesday.

They previously disputed the crown in the last season’s Commissioner’s Cup, which was a rematch from their two prior golden duels in the Season 47 and Season 49 Governors’ Cup.

TNT won all three, giving this coming war a repeat or revenge theme.

Jordan Heading rifled in 30 points spiked by seven triples in the closeout mission, capping his breakout game with the go-ahead And-1 play with 42.1 seconds left to seal the Tropang 5G’s date with Ginebra and fifth straight finals appearance overall.

The Bolts had their chance to steal the Game 6 win and force a sudden death but CJ Cansino’s banked shot from the four-point line missed the mark.

The Gin Kings got their job done in six games earlier.

“We didn’t want to play a Game 7 against a Yeng Guiao team. That would have been a disaster for us and so we put all our eggs in one basket and went after this game tonight,” said Cone.

After moving on the hill with a 111-104 Game 5 win, the Gin Kings took a businesslike approach in the sixth game. After all, Cone and Co. remembered how badly their last two clincher attempts in Game 6 – Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup finale against TNT and Season 47 Philippine Cup semis against eventual champion Meralco – ended up.