THE semifinal round of the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup resumes today at the Araneta Coliseum with B-MEG Derby Ace facing Talk ‘N Text in the 5 p.m. opening match, while Barangay Ginebra squares off against San Miguel Beer in the 7:30 p.m. main game. Both the Gin Kings and the Llamados will be decided underdogs in their respective best-of-seven series.
Even Barangay Ginebra coach Jong Uichico admitted this, saying their best chance is to extend the series to a sudden-death deciding seventh game.
“I hope it goes the distance and we have to go to a Game 7. If we manage to force a Game 7, it would give us a 50-50 chance of winning,” said Uichico.
The only advantage of the Gin Kings is that they did not have a long break prior to the series. On the other hand, the Beermen have been idle since Dec. 19, when they slammed the door on the Air21 Express, 97-75, in their quarterfinal playoff.
In contrast, the Kings had to survive two knockout games against the Alaska Aces in a four-day span to make it into the Final Four of the season-opening tournament.
Their deciding day was humdinger on Christmas Day as the league’s most popular ballclub needed to rally back from as much as 20 points down in the first half to beat the Aces, 79-70, for the right to face the second-seeded Beermen.
Defending champion B-MEG faces an even more daunting challenge. Not only are the Llamados facing the no. 1 team after the eliminations, they will also need to climb out of a hole trailing TNT, 0-1, in their best-of-seven playoff.
But coach Jorge Gallent is not about to be fazed by the tall odds and hopes to become only the sixth coach in league history – after Narciso Bernardo, Chot Reyes, Eric Altamirano, Ryan Gregorio and Joel Banal – to win a PBA title in his rookie year as coach.
Gallent, who is not shy to talk about his coaching credentials, believes he has the tools to match wits with the multi-titled TNT coach in Reyes.
“I think I have had enough experience playing and winning six championships in the PBL. Siguro kung isa o dalawa lang baka kulang. But I think six is enough to compete even in a higher level. I have the experience in the amateurs. I guess I just have to bring it up in the PBA,” said the confident Gallent who won six amateur tournaments as coach of Harbour Centre in the PBL.
Reuel Vidal, Manila Standard Today
