Pipiliting tapusin ng defending champion TNT at Barangay Ginebra ang PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup semifinals ngayong Linggo sa Ynares Center Antipolo.
Matapos ang 111-104 panalo sa Game 5 laban sa Rain Or Shine noong Biyernes, hawak ng Ginebra ang 3-2 na kalamangan. Maghaharap muli ang dalawang koponan simula 5:15 p.m.
Target din ng TNT na tapusin na ang serye laban sa Meralco simula 7:30 p.m.
Dalawang beses nagharap ang Ginebra at TNT sa finals noong Season 49.
Panalo ang Tropang 5G sa parehong laban — 4-2 sa Governors’ Cup at 4-3 sa Commissioner’s Cup.
Ngunit kung magwagi pa ang Elasto Painters at Bolts, ang winner-take-all Game 7 ay gaganapin sa Miyerkules.
Ayon kay Ginebra coach Tim Cone, walang sinuman sa locker room nila ang dapat magdiwang nang maaga.
“We’re not going to be happy with this win. We’ve been in this situation before. We led 3-2 and then got beat. Once by San Miguel, once by TNT,” sabi ni Cone.
“It’s too easy to get euphoric with the 3-2 lead. We’re not. A lot of things went our way tonight (Wednesday), which is great, we’re fortunate, but we have to move on.”
Dumating ang babala ni Cone matapos ang mahusay na laro nina RJ Abarrientos at Justin Brownlee sa Game 5.
Nakabawi si Abarrientos mula sa walong puntos lamang sa Game 4 — ang nag-iisa niyang single-digit output sa conference na ito — at nagpasabog ng 31 puntos laban sa ROS upang makuha ang Best Player honors.
Samantala, ipinakita muli ni Brownlee ang kanyang dominasyon sa pamamagitan ng game-high na 32 puntos.
Pinagsama, ang kanilang 63 puntos ay tumulong sa Ginebra upang makalamang nang hanggang 18 puntos bago mapigilan ang paghabol ng Rain or Shine sa third quarter.
Samantala, dahil mas nagiging komportable na ang import na si Chris McCullough, paborito ang TNT na masundan ang 103-95 panalo sa Game 5.
Si McCullough, na nagkampeon din sa parehong conference bilang import ng San Miguel Beer noong 2019, ang pumalit sa na-injure na si Bol Manute Bol.
Napunit ni Bol ang kanyang Achilles tendon sa Game 2 ng serye noong Mayo 22.
Matapos ang 24 puntos sa kanyang debut na may dalawang ensayo lamang at sa kabila ng 90-101 pagkatalo sa Game 4 noong Miyerkules, bumalik siya makalipas ang dalawang gabi at nagtala ng 42 puntos at 11 rebounds.
“Just focus on what we have to do (in the clincher attempt), go to practice and work on things we need to work on and just come out aggressive already. We were very aggressive from the start (in Game 5) and that’s where we got to go for the next game,” ani McCullough.
Nakatulong din ang magandang koneksiyon nina RR Pogoy, Calvin Oftana at Jayson Castro kay McCullough.
“We finally got into a nice groove with Bol, figuring out how to play with him and then suddenly we lost him,” ani TNT coach Chot Reyes.
“We knew there was going to be a period of adjustment but we had a lot of positive things from our (Game 4) loss. I know it was a loss, but we said if we just took care of the ball a little better, we could still have pulled out the win in the last game. So that gave us a lot of energy coming into Game 5 because we knew even with the adjustments we had to make, we were still in that ball game except for our turnovers. And a lot of that is because we’re just getting used to playing with Chris. So hopefully this is the start. We still had some a few turnovers to work on but like Chris said there’s one more game. The job’s not over,” dagdag ni Reyes.
Kung magtatagumpay, magkaroon ng pagkakataong makabawi ang TNT matapos ang magkasunod na runner-up finishes sa Philippine Cup — na parehong napanalunan ng San Miguel Beer — at masungkit ang kampeonato sa unang pagkakataon mula nang maghari sila sa Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup.