Ginebra edges out San Miguel to grab PBA title

(Update) The Ginebra San Miguel Kings snatched the Talk N Text PBA Philippine Cup title on Friday night, edging out the San Miguel Beermen with a two-for-two from the free-throw line, with 2.9 seconds left in Game 6, setting the final score at 96-94. Named by the PBA Press Corps as Finals Most Valuable Player is Ginebra's Jayjay Helterbrand, who sealed his team's victory by sinking those two charity shots. Teammate Mark Caguiao had earlier been named as Best Player of the Conference. PBA Commissioner Noli Eala awarded to the champions the much-coveted PBA Perpetual Tropy, an 18-karat gold masterpiece designed by architect-sculptor Ramon Orlina. A team would have to win three consecutive times to be able to keep the original trophy for good. Otherwise, a team gets to keep the trophy for only a year. All one-time or two-time winners, though, get their own replica of the trophy. 7th for Kings With the win, the Kings grabbed their seventh PBA crown and the third in the last two years. Ginebra coach Jong Uichico, meanwhile, grabbed his seventh title in the PBA and the first with the Kings. His first six PBA titles, ironically, were with the Beermen when he assumed the coaching role for the team in 1999. At the awarding of the trophy, Uichico thanked the PBA Fans, especially the Barangay Ginebra faithful, who came out in full force to support the team to victory even after they fell behind against Beermen, 0-2, in the early goings of the finals. Trailing behind Ginebra actually fell behind by 16 points, 41-25, in the earlier goings of the second quarter due to horrific shooting and poor defense. But they slowly crawled back in the game behind the sniping of Helterbrand, Caguioa, and former St. Benilde Blazers star-player Sunday Salvacion, to close out the first half with a score of 46-34, still in favor of the Beermen. In the early part of third quarter, the Beermen were leading by 15 points, 55-40, when a 16-6 run courtesy of the steady shooting of former University of the East (UE) star-player Ronald Tubid, Caguioa, and Helterbrand, then closed the gap to five points at 61-56 with, 2:33 left in the third canto. The two teams then traded baskets from there to end the third quarter, 67-61, in favor of the Beermen. Trapping defense At the start of the fourth canto, Barangay Ginebra then used a full-court trapping defense to disrupt the offensive flow of the Beermen, to tie the score at 75-all with under six minutes left in the ball game. Danny Seigle, the 1999 Rookie of the Year and former PBA MVP, then scored on a three point-play, followed by a basket by Cebuano sensation Dondon Hontiveros, to give the Beermen some breathing room, 80-75, with under four minutes remaining. Ginebra got its first taste of the lead since the first quarter when Caguioa scored on a free-throw after Danny Ildefonso got a technical foul for complaining at the referee. The next play then saw Salvacion scoring on a three-point shot in the right side of the Ginebra court, to give his team a four-point lead, 90-86, with 2:18 left in the game. A Racela three-pointer, followed by a lay-up by Danny Seigle, then trimmed Ginebra’s lead to one-point, 92-91 with 1:11 to play, after Billy Mamaril muffed two of his four free throws after he was followed in two previous Ginebra plays. Isolation play Lordy Tugade, the sweet-shooting guard of Red Bull Barakos before he was traded to the Beermen early in the season, then scored on a three-point shot, to give San Miguel a two-point edge with 45.4 ticks left, forcing Uichico to call for time. Salvacion then scored on a long two-point shot at the right side of the court to tie the count at 94-all with 35.9 ticks left. After a timeout, the Beermen devised a play for Danny Seigle, but it went haywire, giving ball possession back to the Kings, with 16.9 seconds left. After a time-out, Ginebra went for an isolation play for Helterbrand who was then fouled by Willy Wilson, with 2.9 seconds left. He calmly sank his two free-throws to give his team a 96-94, lead. San Miguel failed to convert on their next possession after a timeout, to give the crown to the Gin Kings. Game leaders Sunday Salvacion led Ginebra in the scoring with 18 points, followed by Caguioa’s 17 points, and Helterbrand with 13 points. Danny Seigle, meanwhile, led San Miguel in the scoring department with 16 points. San Miguel’s four straight setbacks was the first in franchise history in 27 previous finals appearances. Since the PBA adopted a seven-game finals series in 1982, 20 of 26 teams — or 77 percent — went on to win the championship after winning Game 5 from a 2-2 deadlock. With the victory, Ginebra is the fifth PBA team to win a championship after falling 0-2 hole. In 2003, the Coca-Cola Tigers, ironically mentored by now SMB coach Chot Reyes, also lost to Talk ‘N Taxt after winning the first two games of PBA All-Filipino Finals in 2003. - GMANews.TV