Forget they're sister teams - this is war

MANILA, Philippines - Barangay Ginebra and San Miguel Beer start their Motolite PBA Fiesta Conference best-of-seven championship showdown tonight at the Araneta Coliseum – a fitting finale featuring the reigning titleholder and the worthiest challenger to come out of the pack.

Game One is set at 7:30 p.m. with the Kings trying to become the first team in seven years to successfully defend a PBA title and the Beermen out to snap a four-year title drought, including a final loss to the crowd favorites two years ago.

They may be sister teams under the giant SMC umbrella but the least these two squads could do is to figure in a “friendly battle.”

“Yes, we’re sister teams but we’re all pros here. I won’t give my (won-game) bonus to them. I can still remember our last championship. We’re focused to get back at them,” said SMB skipper Olsen Racela.

“When the ball goes up, you throw our being sister teams out of the window. No more sister teams, no more friends, it’s now all work and about winning the championship,” said Ginebra top gun Jayjay Helterbrand.

San Miguel is the prohibitive pick but Ginebra coach Jong Uichico is confident of his wards’ chances to repeat as Fiesta Conference champions. Ginebra beat Air21 (now Burger King) for the crown last year.

“(San Miguel is) too big, (has) too much size, too much shooting and too much of everything. But too much of everything could be bad,” said Uichico.

San Miguel coach Siot Tanquingcen admits they are a talent-laden team but doesn’t agree that they have much advantage over Ginebra.

“Their (the Kings’) strength is quickness. People may think they lack the size but their quickness can easily make up for whatever disadvantage they have. I don’t see any glaring Ginebra weakness,” said Tanquingcen.

Both coaches agree that it would be a duel of contrasting styles with the Kings likely to try take control with their fast-paced game and the Beermen tipped to compete with a deliberate half-court game.

The series-opener, however, could be considered just a prelude to what could turn out to be a classic match-up with both teams still on the drawing board following their 4-2 victories over their respective semifinal opponents just last Sunday.

San Miguel walloped Ginebra, 95-80, in their lone match in the classification round but the Kings were still without import David Noel and Cyrus Baguio then.

“We’re stronger now than the first time we met. We also play different now than before,” said Uichico.

“That’s a long time ago. They had a dominant import (Rod Nealy) then – dominant in the sense that the ball was always with him. Now Ginebra has a dominant import who makes his teammates better,” said Tanquingcen.

San Miguel reinforcement Gabe Freeman, a top candidate for the Best Import award, said he’s looking forward to his match-up with Noel.