Kings storm to 2-1 lead

MANILA, Philippines — Same hot start as Game 1, same winning result for Barangay Ginebra.

In front of a season-high crowd of 18,607 at the SM MOA Arena, the Gin Kings carried out their plan to retake control against defending champion TNT with efficiency, roaring to an emphatic 116-102 Game 3 victory in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals last night.

Scottie Thompson dished out a triple-double of 17 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists as he led the heroes who paved the way for Ginebra’s second win after its 102-100 verdict in the series opener and a 2-1 lead in the race-to-four contest.

Thompson stuffed up the stats sheet on the same night he cracked the league’s elite 5,000-point club with his first basket halfway through the first canto.

Stephen Holt broke out of his scoring slump to fire 23 spiked by five triples and a four-ball while helping hold Calvin Oftana to only two markers after exploding for 31 in TNT’s 101-94 Game 2 equalizer.

Justin Brownlee, who scored the winning jumper in Game 1, had his imprint all over this W, scattering 41 markers to go with seven boards, seven dimes and three steals.

RJ Abarrientos chipped in 15 as he served his usual role in the closeout by knocking down a big-time four-pointer and three-pointer that helped restore Ginebra’s spread to more comfortable levels after the defending champions went to within seven off a high of 22.

“In a finals game, I don’t think everybody realizes how difficult it is to get the early lead and keep that lead all the way through the game,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone.

“It’s hard to do in a finals game so I got to tip my cap to our players…It was the third game in five days and we played five or six guys tonight in heavy minutes but they reached deep, knowing that this could be pivotal game in this series.”

Similar to what they did in their opening verdict last Wednesday, Cone’s troops unleashed a lights-out shooting early to storm ahead of the Tropang 5G in the tiebreaking match.

Holt dropped 15 early points on 3-of-3 shooting from three and 1-of-1 from the extended four-point arc.