The dream showdown between Barangay Ginebra and Magnolia, two of the most popular teams in Asia’s pioneering professional basketball league, squaring off in a PBA championship series, won’t happen for now, yet depriving their fans an opportunity of a potential blockbuster finale in the PBA Philippine Cup.
Instead, the two teams’ encounter will come sooner than expected, this after the Gin Kings and the Hotshots dropped their last elimination round assignments against their respective rivals Sunday in the Philippine Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
NLEX spoiled Ginebra’s bid of ending the elimination round on a winning note after the Road Warriors nipped the Gin Kings, 76-72.
No team shot better than 37% (29-of-78) as the Road Warriors, who hit only a 35% clip shooting (28-of-79), banked on their defense to outlast one of the title favorites in this tournament.
Robert Bolick played like he was the lone bright spot in offense for the Road Warriors, tallying 25 points while also dishing out eight assists and grabbing six boards for his team.
The rest of the Road Warriors, however, concentrated on clamping down against the Gin Kings’ big guns, particularly their guards.
Scottie Thompson was only good for four points in 27 minutes of action as he only took five shots from the field.
LA Tenorio played limited minutes while Nards Pinto went scoreless as NLEX’s defense disrupted the offensively flow of the Gin Kings.
Ginebra’s loss coupled by Magnolia’s 93-98 setback at the hands of TNT put the two crowd favorite teams in an early quarterfinals collision.
In the history of the PBA, only twice did the two teams battle it out for the championship — both of them happened during the Robert Jaworski era.
Jaworski’s Ginebra team, then known as Añejo, first faced the old Purefoods team during the 1988 All-Filipino, which the 65ers won in four games of their best-of-five championship series.
Alvin Patrimonio and the rest of Purefoods got some payback of sorts against Jaworski’s squad then carrying the name Gordon’s Gin, in six games of their best-of-seven finals series of the 1997 All-Filipino.
Now long-time fans of these two ball clubs will have to get contented seeing their favorite teams clash in the quarterfinals where Ginebra faces a twice-to-beat advantage against the seventh seeded Magnolia team.
