It seemed that league officials led by Commissioner Sonny Barrios and chairman Lito Alvarez were elated that over 21,000 fans jammed the Araneta Coliseum and looked forward to a continuing windfall in the days ahead no matter whether questions of competitive balance and league integrity simmer in the background.
For the 25th straight year, no team has returned to defend the PBA All-Filipino crown. Talk n Text, which walked out of Game Four in protest of officiating, returned to play the deciding Game Five but bowed to Barangay Ginebra, thus, seeing the end of its reign as Philippine Cup champ. The Kings, instead, completed a stirring comeback from a 0-2 deficit in the best-of-five series, advancing to the semis versus the Alaska Milk Aces with a 113-100 conquest of the Texters in a double knockout watched by a crowd of over 21,000 at the Araneta Coliseum.
Earlier, Purefoods, with its vast experience and deeper bench, outfought Rain or Shine, 95-85, to book its own place in the best-of-seven semifinal round which begins Wednesday in the same venue. The seeded teams all made the Final Four with third-ranked Purefoods arranging a duel with second seed San Miguel and No. 4 Ginebra setting up a separate series with top seed Alaska Milk.
“It’s an awesome feeling we made it through despite all the things that had happened. We’ll cherish it tonight and go back to work tomorrow (Wednesday) to prepare for Alaska,” said Ginebra coach Jong Uichico. “I didn’t imagine we would play Game Five. There’s no other explanation except that the guys never gave up, the crowd was there for us and the Lord gave us this blessing,” Uichico also said.
The Ginebra mentor, however, admitted they got some break with Talk n Text missing the services of Ranidel de Ocampo. The Texters, forfeiting Game Four particularly incensed on a flagrant foul penalty 2 slapped on De Ocampo in a collision with Ronald Tubid which kept everybody guessing on whether Talk N’ Text would show up or not.
The answer came towards the end of the Purefoods-Rain or Shine game. They came on board a van that picked them up at the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center where they heard a mass and did a shoot-around before proceeding to the Big Dome. The Texters, however, just couldn’t hit full rhythm.
The Kings pounced on the situation, dictating the tempo early and leading by as many as 17 in the fourth quarter before completing the stirring series comeback, matching the feats done earlier by Crispa and Purefoods. JC Intal churned out a huge double-double performance with 28 points and 10 rebounds.
Eric Menk had his own double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds with Ronald Tubid, Willy Wilson, Celino Cruz and Enrico Villanueva all adding double-digit outputs.
Talk n Text coach Chot Reyes played only nine men with Mark Cardona, Jason Castro, Jimmy Alapag and Jarred Dillinger all making at least 17 points each. Obviously, they terribly missed the services of De Ocampo who averaged 12 points and nine rebounds in the first four games of the quarters.
Intal, Tubid, Sunday Salvacion and Jayjay Helterbrand combined for nine triples against only one each by Castro and Renren Ritualo as the Kings took the half at 55-49. The Kings nailed six treys in the opening quarter, enabling the team to establish control early, carrying a 30-22 spread into the second period. Intal and Tubid both had a swashbuckling start with the former hitting 16 points and the latter 11 in the first 24 minutes of play.
The Texters kept it close in the first half on points off turnovers, 10-0.
The scores:
Ginebra 113 - Intal 28, Tubid 16, Menk 16, Wilson 14, Cruz 13, Villanueva 10, Salvacion 8, Baguio 3, Helterbrand 3, Caguioa 2.
Talk N’ Text 100 - Cardona 21, Castro 18, Alapag 18, Dillinger 17, Peek 9, Carey 8, Ritualo 5, De Ocampo Y. 4, Belasco 0.
Quarterscores: 30-22, 55-49, 88-79, 113-100
Source: Ronnie Nathanielsz | InsideSports.ph
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