It’s that old Black Magic

Talk ‘N’ Text coach Norman Black worked his magic in Game 3 of the PBA Governors Cup best-of-five semifinals against San Mig Coffee at the Smart Araneta Coliseum the other night. And the Mixers couldn’t find the antidote to hex the Texters who won convincingly, 112-86. It was San Mig Coffee’s worst defeat in the conference.

Before Game 3, the Mixers had lost only four games – by two to San Miguel Beer, nine to Alaska, four to Talk ‘N’ Text and one to Rain Or Shine, all in the eliminations. They were 3-0 in the playoffs entering Game 3 and just a win away from advancing to the finals. At stake for San Mig Coffee isn’t just another championship. One more title will clinch the first Grand Slam for the franchise and second for coach Tim Cone who did the trick with Alaska in 1996.

For Black, it was win or go home in Game 3. Another loss would’ve sealed the Tropa’s doom. But Black was in no mood for an early vacation. Neither were his players. He juggled his starting lineup a bit, retaining import Paul Harris, Jayson Castro and Ranidel de Ocampo and tapping Rob Reyes and Aaron Aban. In Game 1, Black went with Harris, Castro, De Ocampo, Kelly Williams and Ryan Reyes. In Game 2, he replaced Williams with Noy Baclao. So he opened Game 3 with a different starting cast to shake things up.

San Mig Coffee fell behind early, adjusting to the matchups, but detonated a 7-2 bomb to end the first period on top, 21-20. Then, it was all Talk ‘N’ Text. After Allein Maliksi buried a triple to tie it, 25-all, the Texters ignited a 10-3 blast and were on the way to a blowout. Talk ‘N’ Text played with a sense of urgency while San Mig Coffee appeared to take the night off with a thrice-to-beat advantage.

At the half, the Tropa sat on a 15-point lead and the margin ballooned to 28 on K. G. Canaleta’s triple to make it 92-64. Black’s charges hammered away until the final buzzer, delivering a strong statement that the series is far from over. Both teams cleared their benches, sending in all 14 locals plus their import. The Tropa’s relievers won the scoring battle, 56-50. Six Texters finished in double figures, including Danny Seigle with 13 in 16 minutes, Jimmy Alapag with 11 in 16 and Elmer Espiritu with 10 in 13. De Ocampo, Castro and Alapag were a combined 8-of-9 from beyond the arc.

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What Black showed in Game 3 was if the Mixers relax on defense, they’re in trouble. Talk ‘N’ Text isn’t the kind of team you show daylight and hope the door doesn’t swing wide open. The Tropa is a dangerous and explosive squad that can heat up like a furnace in a flick of Black’s magic wand. In Game 1, San Mig Coffee held the Texters to 36.3 percent field goal shooting and in Game 2, it went down to 34.9 percent. The Tropa knocked down 12 triples in each of the games but they hardly mattered. The Mixers played the percentages and got the Ws. San Mig Coffee won Game 1, 92-88 in overtime and Game 2, 93-85.

Things didn’t go Cone’s way in Game 3. The Texters were on fire starting the second period when they banged in 32 points and continued to sizzle in the third with 33 more. In the end, the Tropa shot 50.6 percent from the field and buried 14-of-32 treys. San Mig Coffee’s defense was in disarray. But it wasn’t just on the offensive end that the Texters delivered. Black went to a variety of zone formations to confound the Mixers who couldn’t break through the defense on a consistent basis.

San Mig Coffee was so badly outplayed that Cone decided to rest his starters in the fourth period. Black didn’t ease up on the pedal and the Texters still banged away for 27 points in the last quarter. The key to it all was the Tropa sharing the basketball, collecting 30 assists to the Mixers’ 18. The unselfish play led to good looks and easy buckets. On the defensive end, the Texters pelted the Mixers with 21 turnover points compared to San Mig Coffee’s 11.

Harris wound up with 12 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in 34 minutes while the Mixers’ Marqus Blakely compiled eight points, seven boards and two dimes in 27. Clearly, the locals decided the outcome in Game 3.

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San Mig Coffee marches into Game 4 tonight with a twice-to-beat edge but you can be sure Cone will tell his charges to treat it like a must-win. There will be a major momentum shift if the Tropa wins Game 4 and forces a Game 5. In PBA history, only three teams survived a 0-2 deficit to win in a best-of-five series and there have been 96 ties of this variety before this conference.

In the NBA, the first round of the playoffs used to feature best-of-five series. That was the format from 1983-84 to 2001-02 or 19 seasons. In 152 best-of-five series during that period, only five teams stormed back from 0-2 to win – Golden State over Utah in 1986-87, New York over Boston in 1989-90, Phoenix over the Los Angeles Lakers in 1992-93, Denver over Seattle in 1993-94 and Dallas over Utah in 2000-01. So the probability of Talk ‘N’ Text coming back to beat San Mig Coffee in Game 5 is extremely low. Still, it’s not an impossibility.

Both Harris, 27, and Blakely, 25, are three-termers. Harris led the Texters to the 2010-11 Commissioner’s Cup title while Blakely powered the Mixers to the Governors Cup crown last season. This is their third conference. The only other countries where they played outside of the US were Germany for Blakely and France for Harris. They’re tested winners who won’t back down from adversity. Their matchup is just as fierce as the battle of wits between Black and Cone.