The Aces and the Phone Pals dispute the right to meet the Red Bull Thunder in the Samsung PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals in a sudden-death match at 5:30 p.m. at the Araneta Coliseum.
Both teams — are practically in an unfamiliar situation with the Aces chasing a record comeback from a 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five semifinals series while the Phone Pals figure in a first-ever semis knockout game in a long, long while.
Three teams ˆ Crispa and two Purefoods squads – have actually achieved the feat of climbing out of a 0-2 hole to win not merely a best-of-five semis playoff but a championship showdown. Curiously, the 1990 Hotdogs squad under coach Baby Dalupan did the trick at the expense of coach Tim Cone and his Alaska team.
Cone still vividly remembers that harrowing loss. And he maintains he’s proud to be part of that team, saying, personally, he learned a lot of lessons from that experience versus Dalupan.
Whether he can make good use of those lessons versus Talk N Text tonight is the question now.
"Results of the first four games doesn’t matter now. It’s a one-game series. We both have fifty-fifty chance of winning,"said Cone after his Aces forced the deciding Game Five with back-to-back victories Wednesday and Friday.
Despite the heart-rending losses in the last two games, Talk N Text coach Bill Bayno, meanwhile, said: "We’re ready to come out Sunday."
After Game Four, the American mentor, however, gave another side remark on officiating although he said if there’s a team he doesn’t mind losing to, it would be Alaska. He said: "They work just like us. The Alaska organization has class."
Fined P20,000 for his outburst in Game Three, Talk N Text import Jerald Honeycutt faces another possible fine for throwing his armband to referee Boy Cruz in the closing seconds of Game Four.
"You can’t blame him (Honeycutt), he’s getting hacked here and there but the foul wasn’t called. And imagine 0-5 fouls against us (early) in the fourth quarter," said Bayno.
PBA watchers, however, say Bayno should just concentrate on coaching, especially now that his team is again on the brink of a disastrous finish.
The Pangilinan franchise has never gone past the semifinals since winning the 1998 Governors Cup -- a lonely stretch of over three years now marked by several sorry downfalls, including two missed semis stint despite No. 1 seeding in the quarterfinals. Cone thinks the momentum is on their side.
But it is a very, very slight edge in a match which could go down-the-wire. Cone said the team which will come out stronger and have the energy till the end will emerge victorious.