MANILA — Barangay Ginebra San Miguel gets a long-awaited shot at redemption tonight as it faces defending champion TNT Tropang 5G in the opening game of the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, renewing a rivalry that has repeatedly ended in heartbreak for the Gin Kings.
The best-of-seven championship series pits two of the league’s most successful franchises against each other once again, with TNT seeking a rare title defense and Ginebra determined to finally break through after losing its last three championship encounters against the Tropang 5G.
The latest Finals showdown carries added significance for Ginebra, which is looking to snap a seven-conference title drought and erase the painful memories of last season’s Commissioner’s Cup collapse when it squandered a 3-2 series lead before TNT escaped with an 87-83 overtime victory in the deciding Game 7.
“I think both teams are deserving to be here but one’s going to come out on top. Sometimes, it’s not always, you know, it’s not fun being the second-place team. So, you know, we’re going to both battle for that first place. So, looking forward to Wednesday,” Ginebra coach Tim Cone said during the pre-Finals press conference.
The Gin Kings have not won a championship since capturing the Season 47 Commissioner’s Cup title against guest team Bay Area Dragons in a winner-take-all Game 7 at the Philippine Arena.
TNT, meanwhile, enters the series with momentum and an opportunity to achieve something no eighth-seeded team has accomplished in PBA history — win a championship.
Despite the historic possibility, TNT coach Chot Reyes said his team remains focused on the task at hand rather than the record books.
“Those are nice things to hear. But in the end, it doesn’t really matter much,” Reyes said.
“For us, what matters is really how we prepare, how we play against a very high-quality team. ‘Yun lang iniisip namin eh. For us, it’s just noise. Hindi namin iniisip na ‘yung mga ganyan.”
The Tropang 5G have already authored one of the conference’s most remarkable playoff runs.
After barely making the postseason as the No. 8 seed, TNT overcame a twice-to-beat disadvantage against NLEX in the quarterfinals before eliminating Meralco in six games in the semifinals to reach the championship round.
The feat made TNT only the second No. 8 seed in the last 14 years to advance to the PBA Finals, joining the surprise run of Powerade in 2012.
Now, with Ginebra seeking revenge and TNT chasing both another championship and a place in league history, the Commissioner’s Cup Finals is set to deliver another intense chapter in one of the PBA’s fiercest modern rivalries./PN
