Ginebra reaches finals at expense of Rain or Shine
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 06/28/2009 9:48 PM
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MANILA - Barangay Ginebra reached the finals anew after beating Rain or Shine, 108-100, in Game 6 of their best-of-seven semifinal series Sunday night in the 2008-09 Motolite-PBA Fiesta Conference at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Kings drew solid games from their four starters in dismantling the stubborn Elasto Painters to clinch their series, 4-2 and meet sister team San Miguel Beer in the best-of-seven championship series.
The Beermen also won their semifinal duel with Burger King in six games after demolishing the latter, 118-103, in Game 6 last night.
Jonas Villanueva and Marc Pingris were responsible in breaking the game wide open after a tight first half as San Miguel clinched its 29th finals appearance and eyes an 18th PBA crown.
Villanueva had 23 points to support the 26-point, 14-rebound performance of import Gabe Freeman while Pingris contributed 17 markers off the bench for coach Siot Tanquingcen, who will be facing his former mentor Jong Uichico in the finals.
Uichico's Kings showed resiliency in the series after being down 1-2 as they won the next three assignments including the impressive win last night to bag the series.
Ronald Tubid, David Noel, Paul Artadi and Jayjay Heltebrand all hit at least 17 points that helped Ginebra in dealing the Elasto Painters their third straight loss.
Tubid fired 23 points while Noel also had 23 and added 10 rebounds and seven assists in another all-around performance.
Artadi was the biggest surprise in the game as he netted 17 points and a conference-high six steals that sparked the uprising of the Kings in the second half.
"Rain or Shine really have us a tough series," said Uichico, now eyeing his ninth PBA crown in 12 finals appearances.
"We really prepared hard for this game and coach Caloy (Garcia) did a great job for Rain or Shine in this semifinal series," he added.
The Kings now have the chance to become the first team since Red Bull (now Barako Bull) to defend an import-laden tournament. The Barakos achieved the feat in 2001 and 2002 Commissioner's Cup.
But they will face a determined Beermen, the top seed in the tournament.
This will be the fourth time in league history that the sister teams will face in the finals with San Miguel holding a 2-1 edge.
TY Tang finished with career-high 24 points but his efforts went down the drain as his team has to settle for the battle for third place against the Whoppers on Wednesday.
Tang picked up the scoring slack in the fourth as he almost singlehandedly carried Rain or Shine after being down 87-101.
The former La Salle guard engineered a 10-1 run he capped with a triple to slice the lead to 97-102 with 57.4 ticks left.
But Artadi, Heltebrand and Tubid doused the run with a pair of free throws each to seal Ginebra's 18th PBA finals appearance and 10th in a conference with import.
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