Kings: no lead is safe

MANILA, Philippines — Barangay Ginebra and TNT are exactly where they were at this point of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals last season – the Gin Kings holding a 3-2 lead.

In spite of such upperhand, that previous tiff didn’t end well for Tim Cone and his crew as the Tropang 5G forced a rubber match and ultimately went all the way to the coveted jewel.

And so as they head into Game 6 of the ongoing war for Season 50 edition silverware, the Gin Kings are hell-bent on writing a different ending, one that would have them celebrate their coronation as new kings in place of TNT at the end of tonight’s 7:30 p.m. encounter at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

For Chot Reyes and his troops, there’s no other way than to foil their rivals’ clincher plan and give themselves a shot at keeping their reign.

“I went in the locker room (after the 100-95 Game 5 victory) and just said, ‘Hey, we’re not celebrating.’ You can’t celebrate a game like this as much as you would like to. You just got to put it away, move forward,” Cone said after his troops moved on the hill.

“We’ve been here before, leading 3-2, against this team (TNT) and they’ve come back and beat us twice. We’ve expended so much energy (in Game 5), you’ve got to favor TNT coming into Game 6. We’re going to have to find a way to overcome that.”

The track record of overhauling their 2-3 deficit in their Season 49 title run is something that emboldens Tropang 5G in their “twice-to-win” predicament.

“Galing din kami ganito dati na 2-3, basta trabahuhin lang namin,” said RR Pogoy, who forced overtime with his short jumper with 1:10 left in regulation.

“Walang imposible kasi unahan naman maka-apat ito, tatlo pa lang sila (Ginebra) so may chance pa,” he added.

Justin Brownlee erupted with a new career high of 54 points in Game 5. But after doing heavy lifting for 51 minutes and 29 seconds and rallying his team from seven down in regulation, does he still have gas on his tank for the closeout bid?

“I think everybody’s tired right now. But at this point you can’t use it as an excuse,” said Brownlee.

“This is how the playoffs has always been, even when I was in my 20s. Everybody gets tired at this point but you just got to keep the bigger picture in mind.”

TNT mentor Chot Reyes gave due credit to JB and Ginebra in this “tough one” but also rued the disparity on the free throws awarded.

“Excellent officiating. (With) 29-17 in the free throws, you can’t beat a strong Ginebra team like that, with that discrepancies in free throws,” he said .

“Kung gumanda lang ng kaunti, maybe a little more parity in free throws, maybe we could have a chance,” Reyes added.