One final game for the books Snow Badua San Mig Super Coffee had its chance to wrap up its grand slam ambition Monday and blew it. Now, it plays Rain or Shine in a no-tomorrow match where each side has an equal chance at a date with destiny. It’s the final game of the season, and it determines the fate of these two strong-willed teams. The Mixers take one last shot at the grand treble while the Elasto Painters seek to complete their own special journey as they clash in a do-or-die game to end their PBA Governors’ Cup Finals showdown at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. “It comes down to a 50-50 game. We just have to come out and see what we can do,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone. “Yes, it’s a 50-50 game. We’ve experienced playing them but each one is different. The record doesn’t matter as it’s just one game,” Cone added. “We’ll try to reach back to our experience in our previous knockout game. But Rain or Shine has been through a lot of knockout games also, and Yeng (Guiao) has been very successful at it.” Guiao and his troops have survived no less than three do-or-die matches in the tourney. They hope to go all the way to reclaim the Governors’ Cup crown grabbed by the Mixers last year, but Guiao admits it’s easier said than done. “The winner in this series is the team that will play harder,” Guiao said. “We played with tremendous intensity and energy to win Game Four. But it’s very difficult to maintain and sustain that in the schedule of the tournament and in the level of game that we’re playing,” Guiao added. “That’s been the story of this series. We had a 17-point lead in Game One but they fought back with great intensity and energy to pull off a come-from-behind win. Then we fought with greater energy and intensity in Game Two. They did in Game Three and we did tonight,” Guiao pointed out. On Monday, Cone admitted the pressure of winning the grand slam is weighing down on them. “We’re playing with pressure and some of our guys are playing hero basketball. Some of our guys are playing more than they should,” Cone said. “We felt tonight there’s more pressure on us than them as we’re trying to close it out and do something special.” Cone hopes for them to be ready as he expects a tougher grind Wednesday. “Winning a grand slam is hard, very very hard. Otherwise it’s done all the time. It’s gonna be hard for us but we’ll try hard as in any other knockout game,” Cone said It’s their last shot at putting their name beside Crispa, San Miguel Beer and Alaska as the only grand slam winners in the long history of the league. For the E-Painters, it’s their chance to validate their own identity as a champion team.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 07:34:58 +0000
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