MANILA – San Miguel Beermen and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings will go for a pivotal win in Game 5 of their 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Final series Sunday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Game time is 6:30 p.m. Beermen, the defending champion, and Kings are aiming for the 3-2 series advantage to have a shot at closing the series in Game 6 on Wednesday.
The series was knotted anew 2-2 after Kings’ 130-100 victory in Game 4 Friday night, with Justin Brownlee, Greg Slaughter, Joe Devance, and LA Tenorio anchoring the offense of the crowd favorite.
“That was strange. It has been a strange series. I don’t think we’ve seen one like this before,” said Kings head coach Tim Cone, pertaining to the lopsided outcomes in the first four games.
“I think what happens is we got two explosive teams. If you allow one team to get momentum, it’s really hard to break,” he added. “We don’t know what’s gonna happen in Game 5. All it does is scare me even more.”
Beermen mentor Leo Austria, for his part, said he expects his wards to bounce back from the lopsided defeat the same way they did when they suffered a 99-120 loss in Game 1, which they reciprocated with 134-109 and 132-94 wins in Games 2 and 3.
“They outplayed and outhustled us from start to finish (in Game 4),” Austria said. “Ginebra came out really prepared and determined to win. Their field goal percentage was too high.”
“On our part, what I noticed is that we lacked effort. We need to regain our effort in Games 2 and 3 to be able to reach our championship goal,” added the six-time PBA champion coach./PN
