ACTION returns to the Smart Araneta Coliseum Wednesday, June 10, 2026, and it’s set to boil over — one side a win away from the hill, the other desperate to force a logjam.
Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone will be the first to say it: no “real progress” has been made yet in this Finals showdown against TNT.
A 2-1 lead, he insists, is a small thing — especially if the Gin Kings can’t back up their 116-102 Game 3 romp last Sunday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Fresh in Cone’s mind is Ginebra’s 3-2 edge in the 2025 Commissioner’s Cup Finals — a lead that evaporated after TNT’s Game 6 fightback and a classic Game 7 heartbreaker.
The last two conferences cut just as deep. Twice, Ginebra jumped the gun on San Miguel Beer in the semifinals. Twice, the advantage slipped away.
That’s why Cone keeps hammering it home: the series doesn’t end at 2-1.
“We’re only focused on the next game,” he said, knowing full well what’s coming — another Tropang 5G surge.
Game 4 tips at 7:35 p.m., shortly after the Best Player of the Conference and Best Import awards presentation. RJ Abarrientos and Justin Brownlee are tipped to take the honors.
But the match is anybody’s game.
TNT has lived in the counterpunch. After a 102-100 Game 1 loss, the Tropa roared back with a 101-94 Game 2 win. The Gin Kings expect nothing less on Wednesday as they chase a pivotal 3-1 lead.
Game 3 was Ginebra’s statement. The Kings raced to a 35-16 first-quarter lead and never looked back, leaning on heavy minutes from their core six — Brownlee, Scottie Thompson, Abarrientos, Stephen Holt, Japeth Aguilar and Troy Rosario — to finish off the 14-point win before 18,607 fans.
TNT, meanwhile, is aching for atonement. Calvin Oftana, bottled up in Game 3, had just two points on 1-of-8 shooting after torching Ginebra for 31 in Game 2. Rey Nambatac went scoreless on 0-of-4. Both were focal points of Ginebra’s defense — and both are circled in red heading into Wednesday.
With Oftana and Nambatac misfiring, Chris McCullough shouldered the load with 44 points and 13 rebounds, while Roger Pogoy added 28. It wasn’t enough. / PBA.PH