Repeat performance?

MANILA, Philippines — The PBA Governors’ Cup semifinals got off to the same start as the 2015-16 edition where Barangay Ginebra beat San Miguel Beer and TNT defeated Meralco in the openers of their series. It remains to be seen if the closures will be repeated.

Let’s recall what happened in 2015-16. The PBA allowed each team to enlist an import with a height limit of 6-9 and a second reinforcement from Asia with a height limit of 6-3. The Bolts recruited Allen Durham and Iran’s Mohammad Jamshidi. Durham went the distance with Meralco but Jamshidi was cut after five games. TNT started with Mario Little then brought in Mychal Ammons while harnessing Syria’s Michael Madanly. Ginebra opened with Paul Harris who was injured after one contest and replaced him with debuting Justin Brownlee. Coach Tim Cone opted not to hire an Asian import. San Miguel went with Arizona Reid then Mike Singletary and finally, Elijah Milsap. Asian import Mahmoud Abdeen of Jordan played three games in the elims and bowed out.

In the semis, TNT drew first blood and blew out Meralco, 113-95. Then, the Bolts roared back to win three in a row, 106-91, 119-113 and 94-88, eliminating the Tropa. Ginebra took the opener over San Miguel, 115-108, and the Beermen evened it up, 95-92. Ginebra barely won in Game 3, 97-96, then San Miguel romped, 101-72, to force a winner-take-all Game 5. In the clincher, Ginebra prevailed, 117-92. The finals went six games with Ginebra wrapping it up via a 91-88 thriller over Meralco on a buzzer-beating triple by Brownlee. It was the first of six titles that Brownlee would bring to Ginebra. LA Tenorio was named Finals MVP and Durham, Best Import.

The only Ginebra players who were held over from the 2015-16 season up to today are Brownlee, Aljon Mariano, Japeth Aguilar, Scottie Thompson and Tenorio. For Meralco, the holdovers are Cliff Hodge, Chris Newsome, Anjo Caram and Reynel Hugnatan. Remaining with San Miguel are Chris Ross, Marcio Lassiter and June Mar Fajardo. TNT’s holdovers are Jayson Castro, Kelly Williams, Matt Ganuelas-Rosser and Ryan Reyes (in the injured list). Aguilar and Fajardo aren’t playing in the semis. Aguilar is recovering from a Grade 2 MCL and Fajardo, a Grade 3. Aguilar suffered his injury in a game against NLEX last Feb. 3 and may be able to rejoin Ginebra in the Finals if the team makes it. Fajardo went down in a game during the EASL Champions Week in Utsunomiya early this month and will miss the rest of the playoffs.

It’s uncanny that in the ongoing Governors’ Cup, the same four 2015-16 semifinals are back facing each other. And even more uncanny, the winners of the openers were identical. Last Friday, Ginebra downed San Miguel, 121-112, and TNT upended Meralco, 110-80. Whether both series will end the same way as in 2015-16 is a question mark. Meralco came back from a loss in Game 1 to win three straight in 2015-16 but that was with Durham, not KJ McDaniels. TNT’s Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is clearly an upgrade from Ammons. Ginebra is still parading Brownlee, playing in his 10th conference, while San Miguel has Cameron Clark leading the charge. In four of the last five Governors’ Cup Finals, Ginebra and Meralco slugged it out with Cone besting coach Norman Black each series, 4-2 in 2015-16, 4-3 in 2016-17, 4-1 in 2019 and 4-2 in 2021. Will it be a repeat performance this season?