The PBA has visited the Philippine Arena in Bulacan three times already.
In those three times, the Barangay Ginebra Kings were a constant. First it was the opening of the 42nd season of the PBA which featured games between KIA and Blackwater in the opener and Ginebra versus TNT in the second contest. A record 56,612 patrons filled the world's largest indoor arena.
It eclipsed the last PBA record by a mile which stood at 24,883 for Game 7 for the 2013-14 Philippine Cup semi-final between Ginebra and Star, then called San Mig Coffee.
The PBA also visited the Philippine Arena last Christmas featuring Mahindra versus Blackwater for the first game with Manila Clasico in the main event.
Game 5 of the 2017 PBA Governors' Cup Finals was the third time Ginebra visited the Philippine Arena while it was Meralco's first.
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"36,000 people and it still looked like it wasn't full, did it?" said Ginebra head coach Tim Cone after they took home an 85-74 victory to grab a 3-2 series lead and move one win away from defending their title.
The coach was almost in awe that there was a big chance that even more people will show up on Wednesday to try and see them clinch the championship.
Cone also gushed about the facilities of the world-class arena.
"Aren't these facilities awesome?" he added. "Look at this room. It's the best press room I've ever seen. The locker rooms are awesome, so it's a great facility. Of course, it's nice. I don't know how the lines are for the fans to see the court. It's really flat on the courtside. But I don't know, it's a nice facility. And we actually played here as a group. We played well here. We're excited."
For coach Norman Black, he knew Ginebra had an advantage as they've played in the venue before but he refused to use it as an excuse.
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"Well, Ginebra has played here before so they know pretty much what it feels like to play here in the Philippine Arena," Black said. "We never played here before so it's new for us but that's no excuse. We're professionals and we're assigned to play in this gym so we just got to be our best."
Game 6 (and Game 7, if necessary) will also be held at the Philippine Arena and tickets are available through TicketNet and all SM outlets.
