GRUDGE MATCH seemed just yesterday when San Mig Super Coffee - TopicsExpress



          

GRUDGE MATCH seemed just yesterday when San Mig Super Coffee and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel met the last time in the deciding match of their PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinals showdown. Many considered it the virtual Finals before the real Finals – for a good reason. And true enough, the winner of the San Mig-Ginebra semis face-off went all the way to claim the championship. The encore comes in their elimination-round tussle in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at 5:15 p.m. Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. “We know they’ll be gunning for us after last conference, and we’d do the same if the roles were reversed. So we’ll need to be ready for their intensity and desire,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone. “The Manila Clasico always seems to bring out the most of both teams. We’re expecting nothing less in this match,” Cone also said. It could only be a battle that is likely to draw another mammoth crowd at the Big Dome. San Mig Coffee looks for a follow-up to its triumphant debut against GlobalPort while Ginebra is out to bounce back from a loss to San Miguel Beer. Before their 96-112 defeat at the hands of the Beermen, the Kings topped Barako Bull, 108-104, in overtime. Back-to-back champ San Mig hardly showed championship hangover and opening-game jitters against GlobalPort, fashioning out a 91-75 rout on Wednesday. “We’re a little different this time around from last conference as we came back injury free. And the guys enjoyed the break that we had,” said Cone. “The key right now is really our second group. We’ve talked to our first group – James, Ping, PJ and Joe. We told them ‘we’ve got to keep you out of the game as much as possible.’ That’s our goal – try not to overplay them,” Cone also said. Ian Sangalang, Mark Barroca and Justin Melton were up to the task Wednesday as the Mixers stretched their run dating back to their conquest of the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the all-Filipino finale. “We have a high-energy import. He had his moment in this game but you’ve not seen the best of him yet,” said Cone of James Mayes who put in just enough effort in his PBA debut, logging 15 points, six rebounds, two steals and one block in 32 minutes of action. Ginebra was a dud in its last game, unable to sustain the heat of its triumphant opening game versus Barako. The Beermen utterly dominated the Kings even with June Mar Fajardo then out with a sprained left ankle. Josh Boone towered above everybody in the paint and allowed the Beermen to rip the Kings, 24-2, on fastbreaks. San Miguel also beat Ginebra, 22-13, on second-chance points and, 25-8, on points off turnovers. Curiously, Boone alone matched the 21 combined rebounds of Ginebra frontliners Leon Rodgers, Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar. (SB) source: PBA, Inquirer ~ada~
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 06:09:29 +0000

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