The ending was as dramatic as the outcome of every game in the PBA Governors’ Cup best-of-five quarterfinal series between Barangay Ginebra and San Miguel Beer. Fans expected a dogfight in Game 5 at Ynares Center, Antipolo, last Tuesday and weren’t disappointed. RPTV ratings reflected a viewership of 2.45 million watchers peaking at the 9:05 p.m. mark in the second half.
Ginebra took Games 1 and 2 then SMB returned the favor to even the series, forcing a do-or-die clincher. In Game 4, SMB came from 17 down in the third quarter to ignite a 22-0 surge in the same period and held on to win, 108-102. George King scored 11 in that 22-0 binge and finished with 35 points. But it was two-time Finals MVP Chris Ross who shone brightly with 20 points, six rebounds and nine assists. Ross, 41, lost his starting job in Game 2 but was reinstated in Game 3, repaying coach Leo Austria for his trust in Game 4. Not too many fans remember that Ross was a first round draft pick in 2009 after Japeth Aguilar and Rico Maierhofer. He played two years at NCAA D1 Marshall University, the West Virginia school where Jason (White Chocolate) Williams suited up before moving to Florida and whose campus legends were Mike D’Antoni and Hal Greer. Ross went from Coca-Cola to Sta. Lucia to Meralco before landing in Petron/SMB in 2013.
In the fourth quarter of Game 5, Ginebra did to SMB what the Beermen had done to coach Tim Cone’s squad in Game 4. Ginebra trailed by 13 in the third stanza and opened the fourth with a 27-4 bomb that took the wind out of SMB’s sails. Scottie Thompson hit nine of his 29 points and collected three of his five steals in that fateful period to seal the deal. It wasn’t just Thompson who delivered the killer blows. RJ Abarrientos had 19 points, four rebounds and five assists. With 5:13 to go, the wily guard used guile to draw King’s sixth foul, inviting contact with a sudden stop to get the drop on the prolific import. “Crazy fourth quarter,” said Cone. “Flipped the script from Game 4. Can’t fret over calls in big games like that. Good to see RJ respond. I rode him pretty hard up to that point.”
It’s the 10th straight semis appearance for Ginebra while SMB missed the Final Four for the second consecutive conference. Ginebra has beaten SMB in four of their last seven playoff series since 2020. Now, Ginebra faces a determined TNT squad that finished runner-up in the last three conferences. Their battle takes the form of a best-of-five semifinal duel, a war of wits between Cone and TNT coach Chot Reyes.