Unlike most gifts, whoever wants this one will have to work very hard for it.
Alaska and Barangay Ginebra slug it out in a KO game at the Cuneta Astrodome today with the winner getting a most welcome Christmas Day present—advancing to the Final Four of the season-opening PBA Philippine Cup.
Gametime is 5 p.m. with the winner marching on to play rock-solid San Miguel in a best-of-five semifinal series.
“At least we now have a Saturday (today) game. We now have a 50/50 chance of winning it,” Ginebra coach Jong Uichico told reporters Wednesday nightafter surviving their first knockout game with the on-and-off Aces.
A 94-76 Game 2 victory pounded out with a small lineup for most of the game has suddenly swung the pendulum in favor of the Gin Kings, who could still be without Eric Menk and will be relying heavily on their overloaded guard rotation.
Two-time MVP Willie Miller, Ronald Tubid, Mark Caguioa and Mike Cortez took turns in hurting the Aces Wednesday night, while Rudy Hatfield personified Ginebra’s grim determination to bang it up underneath with 16 points and 14 boards.
In fact, Hatfield missed a triple-double by just three feeds as he energized Ginebra no end with great hustle plays on both ends of the floor.
Miller also woke up from a Game 1 slumber and hit two triples at the height of Ginebra’s third-quarter breakaway. He finished with 16 points and was great in quarterbacking the offense in the absence of Jay-Jay Helterbrand.
Alaska was held to just 27 second-half points, 13 in the final period as the Aces slipped back into the woeful form that characterized a bleak part of their elimination round campaign that saw them lose four straight games at one point.
