Rumbling like Taal
MANILA, Philippines — Alert Level 4 warning is up as Barangay Ginebra, rumbling like the restive Taal Volcano, is poised to fully explode and bury embattled Meralco Bolts in the PBA Governors’ Cup finals.
Holding a commanding 3-1 lead after emphatic wins in Games 3 and 4, the rampaging Gin Kings look to finish off the injury-hit, deflated Bolts tonight and crown themselves champions again after their 2018 Commissioner’s Cup conquest.
“That’s what we’ll come out to do – we definitely want to end this thing on Friday and not allow them to get any kind of rhythm or momentum going. We just have to come out and do what we got to do with the Ginebra spirit and try to win it,” said import Justin Brownlee ahead of the 7 p.m. Game 5 at the MOA Arena.
But coach Tim Cone, who’s eyeing to tie the legendary Robert Jaworski with his fourth title for Ginebra, won’t write off the Bolts yet despite their big-time struggle from the knee injury of key big man Raymond Almazan.
“We will do our best, obviously. This team has shown a lot of character in the past when we played them. We got up 2-0 against them then they came back and won two games straight so we know they’re capable of coming back. I think a lot of it is going to depend on Almazan’s injury,” said Cone.
Almazan suffered a lateral meniscus tear on his left knee in Game 3 but played through pain in Game 4 and posted a 12-point, nine-rebound outing in 28 minutes.
“It will be silly for us to say we think it’s over but it’s also silly for us to say we don’t think we’re going to try our best to get it over,” said Cone.
Bolts coach Norman Black, who was embarrassed by his charges’ Game 4 showing, said this is a test of character for them.
“As I told the players, we only have two choices at this point – we pull together and come back and fight on Friday or we may be in for the same. So we have to figure out a way to bounce back from this and play better basketball because this (Game 4) was an embarrassment,” Black said.
“With the way they (Ginebra) are playing right now, we really have to play well to beat them,” he added,
Newly-minted three-time Best Import Allen Durham couldn’t agree more.
“It’s not about X’s and O’s anymore. I mean, yeah, we got to execute but we got to have the heart. Wednesday night, that was terrible; everybody played terrible. We got to find a way to fix it up,” he said.
Meralco is making another assessment on Almazan’s status.
“He’s okay. I talked to him after the game and he said it didn’t get any worse so hopefully he’ll be okay by Friday,” said Black, who however stressed it would still be Almazan’s call. “I will leave that decision up to him. It’s his leg and I can’t feel what he’s feeling so I’ll trust the player when it comes to whether he’ll play or not.”
“I really want to play. Hopefully I can play again in Game 5. We have to check first if it (affected knee) will hurt or tighten,” said Almazan.
Cone said they should match the intensity a desperate opponent like Meralco is expected to carry from the opening tip.