By Waylon Galvez
Despite the busy schedule this Holiday Season, the two teams playing in the championship series of the PBA Governors’ Cup have made sure training remains a priority to prepare for the Finals.
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s LA Tenorio, right, with Kings import Justin Brownlee. (Rio Deluvio)
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, the first to make it to the best-of-seven showdown following a 3-1 win against NorthPort in the semifinals, had its last practice session Sunday at The Upper Deck in Pasig City.
“Last day for us, then we’ll comeback Wednesday,” said Ginebra playmaker LA Tenorio, whose team won the same conference in 2016 and 2017 opposite the same Meralco Bolts.
“From there tuluy-tuloy na kami mage-ensayo.”
Ginebra coach Tim Cone has given the team three-day break starting Monday to prepare for the New Year. The team had a similar three-day rest from Dec. 24 to 26 to celebrate Christmas Day.
Game 1 of the finals is set Jan. 7, 2020, which is Tuesday – from its original Jan. 8 play date – to give both teams enough time to recover and travel to Lucena City on Jan. 10 (Friday) for Game 2.
Meralco, for its part, made it back to the finals series following a stunning victory against top seed TNT Katropa. Down 2-1 in the five-game duel, the Bolts won the last two games, 95-83 in Game 4 and 89-78 in Game 5.
While the Kings will start their break today, Meralco will have one today before their two-day rest Tuesday and Wednesday. They resume practice session Thursday and will continue onwards for the Finals.
The team of coach Norman Black is hoping for a payback after losing to Ginebra twice in the Finals, first in 2016 in six games and in 2017 in a heartbreaking 101-97 Game 7 defeat.
Although the Bolts have retained their core led by Chris Newsome, Baser Amer and former Best Import Allen Durham, they have added several key pieces this season to solidify their roster.
Eyes will be on Meralco rookie Bong Quinto after playing an integral role in the semifinal series victory over TNT KaTropa in the PBA Governors’ Cup. (PBA Images)
First was the selection of Bong Quinto from the 2018 Rookie Draft, and then they acquired Bong Pinto and Allein Maliksi from separate deals with Blackwater, and then obtained Raymond Almazan from Rain or Shine
Almazan, a 6-foot-8 center who won a championship with the Elasto Painters, said that he likes Meralco’s chances against Ginebra in the Finals and hopefully wins the championship.
“Maganda yung lina-laro ng team, hopefully maganda yung maging resulta para samin,” said Almazan. “Alam naming magiging mahirap na kalaban against Ginebra pero ready kami.”
Source: Manila Bulletin
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