San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra, the Philippine Cup title protagonists, clash in a highly anticipated rematch with each side looking to push their drive in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the MOA Arena in Pasay City Sunday.
The two teams were tied at 5-1 before the resumption of the tourney from the SEABA break. The Beermen got ahead on a 114-108 win over the NLEX Road Warriors on Friday when the Gin Kings, on the other hand, dropped their match versus the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 118-112.
Thus, the Beermen enjoy the momentum going to their 6:45 p.m. tussle.
“Malaking bagay yung panalo namin against NLEX. We need some momentum to ride on as we face two tough games against Ginebra then Alaska Milk. It’s a virtual playoff time for us,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.
The Gin Kings, meanwhile, hope to recover right away from the blow suffered at the hands of the E-Painters and their returning import Duke Crews.
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Ginebra was unbeaten in its last five outings before it got beat by ROS.
“We had a 14-point lead in the first half and then a 16-point lead in the second half and still managed to lose the game. We played some good stretches, but couldn’t put a complete game together,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone on their loss to ROS.
“Against SMB, we’ll need to play great the whole game to have a chance to beat them. We’ll need to be a whole better defensively than we were against ROS,” Cone also said.
Cone has a good reason to be wary of the Beermen.
June Mar Fajardo and his teammates thoroughly outclassed the Kings, 4-1, in their all-Filipino title showdown. The Kings needed extra five minutes in pulling one over the Beermen in that series.
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Imports Justin Brownlee and Charles Rhodes can make a difference.
Going to the game, Brownlee averages 28.29 points, 11.0 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 2.29 steals and 2.57 blocks while Rhodes norms 28.0 markers, 11.86 boards, 1.57 dish-offs and 1.86 blocks.
Another key matchup is that between Fajardo and Japeth Aguilar, big men that alternated at center spot in Gilas Pilipinas’ SEABA campaign.
