Game today (Smart Araneta Coliseum)
6 p.m. – Rain or Shine vs Alaska Milk
MANILA, Philippines - San Mig Coffee came back dishing out a great blend of a game, completely outclassing Talk n Text, 93-85, to storm into the threshold of the PLDT Home Telpad PBA Governors Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.
PJ Simon returned from a two-game layoff while Joe Devance and James Yap played through injuries, and the Mixers fought incredibly almost throughout on the way to a commanding two-game-to-nil lead in the best-of-five semifinal series.
A win Monday, Wednesday or Friday gives San Mig Coffee a shot at completing a grand slam versus Alaska Milk or Rain or Shine.
The Aces go for a 2-0 lead versus the Elasto Painters in their own semis showdown at 6 p.m. tonight also at the Big Dome.
“I’m young in coaching but long enough in basketball to know 1-0 is not that big a lead,†said Alaska coach Alex Compton.
“We’ve fallen behind early this conference but we bounced back strong. Sometimes, a loss does more for you than a win. It’s really how we manage to turn this setback into a positive development,†said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao.
San Mig Coffee, which outlasted Talk n Text, 92-88, in overtime Thursday, just didn’t give the Texters a chance to fight back.
“It seems like we’re in control pretty much the whole game until the end of the third. But we’re fighting ourselves the whole time because any time they could make a run,†said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone.
“Somehow they did as they fought back within five many times, but we also fought back, kept our poise and pulled it out in the end,†Cone added.
As in Game One, Marcus Blakely and the San Mig Coffee second group delivered the lethal blows in the end, sending the team to the doorstep of a 27th finals in franchise history.
Blakely came through with 19 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks while Mark Barroca, Alex Mallari and Ian Sangalang combined for 15 points in the payoff period.
Paul Harris put in a game-high 33 points but the whole Talk n Text team struggled with a 29-of-82 shooting.
They need to win three in a row to make a second straight finals.
“An old cliche says two games doesn’t make a series if it’s best of five. Any team is capable of winning three in a row. But we’d rather be here,†said Cone.
“This team (Talk n Text) is capable of putting together three straight games. Hopefully, we pull off one,†Cone added.
With a splendid game on both ends, the Mixers hardly allowed the Texters to get into the game.
With their starters all back, the Mixers came out smoking and took a huge 32-13 spread right in the opening quarter on their remarkable 59.1-percent shooting as against the Texters’ miserable 14.3-percent clip.
The Mixers then led by as many as 20, 42-22, before settling for a 47-34 margin at the half.
Devance and Yap, both hurt and getting much rest in Game One, returned to start for San Mig, helping the Mixers to a swashbuckling start.
Devance knocked in three treys and a total of 15 markers while Yap had seven in the first 24 minutes of play.