MANILA—It’s now or never for the Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants and Sta. Lucia Realty as they battle anew in a knockout playoff of the best-of-seven championship series today for the 33rd Smart-PBA Philippine Cup crown at the Araneta Coliseum.
After a three-day rest since their 89-81 triumph in game six that tied the series, 3-3, last Wednesday, the Giants are slightly favored over the one-time champion Realtors in the lone 6:30 p.m. rubber match.
Both coaches, however, shared the same sentiment that defense is the key towards winning the All-Filipino title of the 2007-2008 season, which Purefoods won four times already, the last was in 2006 under coach Ryan Gregorio.
“We will focus on our defense in game seven. That’s how to win against the best defensive team in the league today,” said Gregorio, who is hoping to become the first Purefoods coach to win two All-Filipino championships.
Key role
Aside from defense, the 25-year-old Gregorio, who had two PBA titles already in his belt, said that the experience of the Giants, will play a key role in the final game-7.
“The championship experiences of my players cannot be taken for granted especially in making decisions on particular instances inside the playing field,” said Gregorio, whose seven conference titles of the Giants made them the 5th winningest team in the PBA behind San Miguel Beer’s 17, Crispa’s 13, Alaska’s 11 and nine for the defunct Toyota Tamaraw.
Title hungry
The Realtors, who won their only title in the Governors Cup in 2001 since joining the league in 1993, are hungrier for the crown, a fact that even veterans Marlou Aquino, Dennis Espino and Paolo Mendoza attested in the series.
“They wanted to end a long seven-year title drought. It’s been a long time that’s why they play hard to win another championship,” said the 36-year-old Boyet Fernandez, who steered Sta. Lucia to the finals in just two conferences as a coach.
Fernandez, who once played with Purefoods for 26 games under Gregorio in 2003, said their confidence remains high and will limit the Giants beyond a 100-point level, especially James Yap to only a single digit.
“Of course, we have to make adjustments in our defense. We have to limit Purefoods’ output, particularly James Yap,” added Fernandez.
Vengeance
Yap, after serving a one-game suspension due to flagrant foul-2 in game three, came back with vengeance, hitting 20 points in the fourth quarter to help the Giants extend the series to full distance.
Yap’s amazing firepower was highlighted with five triples, a feat that practically stunned the Realtors the rest of the way.
“We really never expected that to happen because James Yap had only 10 points at the end of the third period. We relaxed on our defense allowing him to explode,” stressed Fernandez.
In game six, It was almost even in all key departments of the match, except in the rebound area where Purefoods surprisingly made 59 to only 48 for the Realtors even with the presence of 6’9” Marlou Aquino, 6’6” Dennis Espino and 6’6” Kelly Williams. (FCC)
