Easter Sunday spectacle

MANILA, Philippines — And they’re off to the races.

After an extended deep dive on each other’s strengths and weaknesses the past week, it’s time for defending champion Barangay Ginebra and challenger TNT to launch the first strike in the PBA Governors’ Cup finals.

Ginebra, the gold standard in the season-ending conference, and TNT, the most dominant team of the tournament, go hunting on Easter Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum to dispute the running start in what’s anticipated as a slugfest of a series.

“We’re going to come out slugging like in ‘Rocky’ (movies) and see who will last seven rounds. Luckily, it’s not a 15-round match. We’ll see who’s standing in the end,” Gin King’s coach Tim Cone said ahead of the 6 p.m. opening salvo.

If this were a “Rocky” flick, then the Tropang Giga would prefer to make the best-of-seven contest an “underdog-toppling-the-champ” success story, too.

“The guys aren’t happy just being in the finals; they know they have a higher purpose. After we won our fourth game (clincher in the semis), they didn’t celebrate because there’s still the finals to play and they know they have a really good shot at this,” said TNT mentor Jojo Lastimosa, who’s eyeing his first crown at the helm.

Cone’s allusion to boxing stems from how well-matched his three-peat-seeking charges and the top-seeded Tropang Giga are.

Gin Kings resident import Justin Brownlee is ranged against Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, a legit NBA vet out to snare his breakthrough pro title.

Cone’s reliable locals led by Scottie Thompson, Christian Standhardinger, Jamie Malonzo and Jeremiah Gray are pitted against the similarly talented and hungry TNT crew of RR Pogoy, Jayson Castro, Mikey Williams, Poy Erram and Calvin Oftana.

The multi-titled Cone himself is up against Lastimosa, with whom he shared a lot of triumphs and trials during their glory days with Alaska in the 1990s.

“There’s not going to be much advantage so we have to find a way to defend them. They’re really a great offensive team who’s learned to play really good defense,” Cone said of TNT.

“I think their advantage is their experience and being familiar with each other. Tim is the kind of coach who likes his team playing together. Even with us in Alaska before he wanted us to be responsible for each other and play together. That’s how it is with Ginebra, ” said Lastimosa.

“That’s why it’s going to be hard because he (Lastimosa) knows everything,” Cone noted.

Ginebra carries an added motivation given the health condition of skipper LA Tenorio.

“We have another purpose. We’re missing our brother LA Tenorio and we want to bring the championship back for him,” Malonzo said.

“That’s going to be hard to overcome,” Lastimosa said of Ginebra’s “win-for-LA” goal. “But I think we’re up to the challenge.”