From zero to hero

MANILA, Philippines — Meralco’s Baser Amer is bracing himself mentally for a war of attrition against Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Governors Cup Finals with Game 5 set at the 55,000-seat Philippine Arena tonight.

The series is tied up at 2-2 with Game 6 scheduled for Wednesday also at the Philippine Arena. In a long series, the team with the deeper bench and fresher, younger legs has the advantage to endure down the stretch. Meralco’s average age is 29.6 years with five players at least 30 and Reynel Hugnatan the oldest at 38. Ginebra’s average age is 30.4 with eight players at least 30 and JayJay Helterbrand the oldest at 41.

Amer, the Bolts’ leading local scorer up to the semifinals, was blanked in Game 3 but recovered to score 11 in Game 4 where his triple brought the lead back to Meralco for good, 83-81, with 1:16 left. From zero, Amer played hero to spoil Ginebra’s push for a 3-1 edge. His counterpart LA Tenorio, who took Best Player honors in Ginebra’s 86-76 win in Game 2, was scoreless in 31:25 minutes. Meralco held on to win, 85-83, to rebound from 0-2 and knot the series count.

Amer said coming off a timeout, assistant coaches Jimmy Alapag and Ronnie Magsanoc told him to be ready to fire although the play was for Allen Durham to score with Ginebra on top, 81-80. “My teammates encouraged me to take it if I’m free,” he said.  “When AD drove in, it looked like five Ginebra players tried to stop him. I was in the far corner and raised my arms. AD saw me and made the pass. Luckily, my shot went in.”

In the Finals, Amer’s not matched with Tenorio. “Coach Norman (Black) wants Chris (Newsome) on LA,” he said. “A bigger guy has a better chance of tiring him out. My matchup is Scottie (Thompson) who’s a challenge. Scottie has a strong body and his game is rebounding. It’s my responsibility to box him out like AD boxes out Greg Slaughter, JD (Jared Dillinger) boxes out (Justin) Brownlee and Cliff Hodge boxes out (Joe) DeVance.”

Amer said after Game 4, Black advised the team to get a lot of rest and eat healthy. “We’re all tired,” he said. “It’s a long series. Nobody has the advantage because we lost RDO (Ranidel de Ocampo) and I think they’ve lost (Sol) Mercado who hurt his ankle late in Game 4 and left the coliseum in a wheelchair. It’s more a mental battle than physical because the body just responds to the brain.”

Meralco team manager Paolo Trillo said Game 4 ended with a wild finish. “In the dugout, coach Norman commended the guys for staying disciplined and focused,” he said. “They executed well off timeouts. We lost our focus in the end of Game 2 but this time, we held on. It remains to be seen which team is more tired moving to Game 5. We’re down two guys with RDO and Kelly (Nabong) out. In Game 4, when we went up by 13 in the third period, coach Tim (Cone) brought in Mark (Caguioa) then JayJay Helterbrand to get the crowd going and give Ginebra a lift. It worked because Ginebra recovered to lead, 81-78. Coach Tim used the same combination in Game 4 of the Finals last season and Ginebra won. We’ve got to be ready for Ginebra’s small lineup. I’m sure coach Tim will do that again.”

Trillo called Newsome the Bolts’ best backcourt defender and that’s why he’s matched with Tenorio. “We have a lot of respect for LA,” he said. “JD’s also playing tough defense on Brownlee. We know Brownlee can’t be stopped but we’re just hoping to contain. It’s a collective effort. Everyone watches each other’s back. To be honest, I don’t really know if Game 4 went down to who had more possessions. We knew Ginebra would come out swinging to go up 3-1 and we couldn’t afford to lose.  Our mindset was whether we were up eight or down eight, we would fight for every possession and make it count.”

In the previous Governors Cup Finals, Ginebra broke out of a 2-2 tie to sweep Games 5 and 6 in capturing the crown. Cone intends to follow the pattern, with or without Mercado. Both teams have now won and lost back-to-back in the Finals. Like Amer, Tenorio is determined to bounce back from going scoreless in Game 4 and it will be his turn for redemption in Game 5 tonight.