Kings, Beermen duel for lead in ‘dogfight’

MANILA, Philippines — After two blowouts, the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals could be headed for a dogfight as San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra go for the go-ahead win in Game Three at the Smart Araneta Coliseum tonight.

In fact, coach Tim Cone of the Gin Kings has hinted at a grind out game starting at 7 p.m. with both teams deemed done in sizing up each other after Ginebra came through with a surprise 127-99 rout in Game One and San Miguel scored an expected 134-109 demolition in Game Two of the best-of-seven series.

“We caught SMB by surprise in Game One and they caught us by surprise in Game Two. I don’t think there will be many surprises going into Game Three. Both teams will be out there to grind out a win,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone.

Adjustments will indeed be a key factor in Game Three.

“I expect our team to be on pins and needles because we know coach Tim Cone is a great coach. He’s one of the greatest coaches that the PBA has with 20 championships. But I think we’re going to be prepared. We’re going to try to prepare as well as possible so we could be adequately reinforced,” said San Miguel ace guard Alex Cabagnot, SMB’s biggest hero with his 33-point game Sunday.

“I’m glad that we made the right adjustments and it worked (in Game Two). (But) not necessarily it’s going to work on Wednesday so we still have to stay ahead of the learning curve,” he added.

SMB coach Leo Austria pointed to their outside shooting and the dominance at the paint by June Mar Fajardo and Renaldo Balkman as the most crucial factors in their Game Two triumph.

Obviously working on SMB’s favor was Cone opting to play Greg Slaughter off the bench.

Cone is likely to tinker with his starting five while Austria is expected to stick with his three-small-and-two-big combination.

“They’re trying to look for a mismatch for June Mar while trying to avoid a collision between June Mar and Greg Slaughter. Same thing with us,” said Austria.

Ginebra’s big problem in Game Two was that Joe Devance wasn’t as successful as he was in Game One.

“Game One was Joe Devance’s day. He scored against anybody that we put on him then,” said Austria.

Then there’s the Beermen’s energy and intensity that they hope to bring over to the next game.

“It looked like we went out there just for a walkthrough in Game One as we allowed them to execute their play. In Game Two, we came out to play a championship game,” said Austria.

NOTES: PBA commissioner Willie Marcial meted five players a total fine of P14,600 for their infractions in Game Two. Renaldo Balkman and Arwind Santos were fined P5,000 each for flagrant foul penalty 1. Santos’ infraction was originally penalty 2 but was downgraded to penalty 1 upon review of the video by the PBA technical officials. Chris Ross drew a fine of P2,600 for two technical fouls while Ginebra’s Kevin Ferrer and Joe Devance were fined P1,000 each for a technical foul.