Scream! Sigh. Sob. sulk. Scream (again)
Those were the things I exactly did after our Kings were beaten again by the Beermen via a 104-100 escape in Game 2 of the Philippine Cup's best-of-seven series.
The loss was a screaming pain compared to last Friday's. They almost clinched a win, almost! Sayang kasi they climbed long and hard, so to speak, only to fall in the end.
I was sure Ginebra were adjusting well last night after their humiliating first defeat. They did well, but only their endgame mistakes were the deciding factors for their sorry, sorry loss!
The Kings had an exciting start and even led by 8 points in the second quarter. Then the direction of the wind changed as San Miguel drew their deliberate arsenal along with their torrid shooting, even when former teammate Romel Adducul was slapped with a 'T" (na pawang "binaril" si [Billy] Mamaril na nasa sahig) and coach Chot Reyes receiving a similar offense for hotly contesting that Rudy Hatfield did a travelling violation instead of Dondon Hontiveros fishing off a blocking foul.
Lordy Tugade was the guy of the moment for SMB. After a 45-all deadlock, Tugade broke down the Kings' defense with 8 points that fueled the Beermen's 13-6 blitzkriet with a little over 4 minutes remaining in the second quarter.
San Miguel led as much as 14 points at the end of the third period, but guys like Mark Caguioa and Hatfield, who sort of broke his right eyebrow from that run-in with Hontiveros, were never yet daunted by this. Eric Menk, by the way, was finally back on the hardcourt after ages of not having been seen in action due to injuries, and he has his pate nicely shaven. Ginebra, down at 69-83, at the end of the third, buckled down in the 4th with a 5-1 run that was capped with a 3-pointer from Sunday Salvacion, 74-84. The predominantly Kings crowd began to holler and chant their familiar battlecry. But ironically, those cheers only revved up the Beermen with baskets that silenced the fans for a while, ironically. So Racela got even with another triple, 74-87. But Rafi Reavis got the crowd up on their feet again with a slam from an assist by Jayjay Helterbrand, 76-87.
After Dorian Pena's aborted 3-pt. play, Reavis, Hatfield and Johnny Abarrientos went for a 6-0 run that brought the Beermen's lead down to 7, 82-89, with under 6 minutes to go. The crowd was going feverishly wild this time, even so when Ginebra were just about to catch up with the Beermen with only 5 points away, 89-84, with 3:14 left. Oh, how the turn of events came so fast indeed!
Hontiveros only kept Ginebra at bay by canning freethrows, 89-96, but Helterbrand next surprised the SMB squad with a triple, 92-96, that elicited heavenly noise and cheers from the crowd and prompted their sister team to call for a 30 second timeout, with 2:15 left.
But Caguioa, off a steal from Ronald Tubid off Danny Seigle, scored this time... at dalawa na lang lamang ng SMB, 94-96. Well at that moment, I was shaking and feeling the tension shooting up in my head. Oh dear. They're closing in, I nervously muttered under my breath. How I wish I wasn't there, but I was here! I was esctatic but I was praying they wouldn't make a big mistake...
SMB's Willy Wilson, failing to make a stab at the basket, threw the leather to Racela but the pass was instead intercepted by Caguioa, whom Racela blocked as the "Spark" proceeded to dash down the half-court. Racela fell, and was called on a foul. There we applauded gleefully and excitedly as we knew San Miguel were already in the penalty line.
But alas, Caguioa, perhaps feeling the gruesome endgame pressure, split his freethrows, 95-96.
And then Racela, refusing to be intimidated by the incident just a while ago and the jeers from the mammoth pr-Gins crowd, took revenge with a triple, 95-99. Uh-oh, not very good news...
Helterbrand secured the offensive rebound from Caguioa's failed long-two-pointer attempt. After a timeout, Caguioa managed to trim SMB's lead to 2, 97-99, with 46.5 ticks to go. SMB were planning for the next counterattack but a five-second violation was ensued against them as Seigle was unable to find for an open man to pass the leather in an inbound play, thus committing a turnover.
So at that point, talagang hiyawan kami dun nang pagkalakas-lakas, because we thought with full conviction that the Kings would turn the tables and have the last luck. And Helterbrand's spinning 15-foot jumper over Racela that tied the ball game once more, 99-all, brought us into our wildest illusions (well!) that Ginebra would finally tie the series, with much disconcertment on the side.
But, in the last 32 seconds, Ginebra, especially Reavis, totally screwed up the game, dammit! Seigle first scored, 99-101, Ginebra utilized their last timeout with only 24 ticks left. But their plans had gone into misuse as Reavis miss his foulshots, then Tubid finally fouled out much to the sheer frustration of us fans at the Big dome. Seigle (?) split his charities, then Hatfield wisely decided for a quick two, 101-102, with 12.2 seconds to go. So mero pang pag-asang mananalo pa ang Ginebra at that moment, but we were all nervous...
Wilson was fouled. After he missed his second free throw, noisy commotion followed as Ginebra had the chance and since they had no timeouts left, they quickly went in their own way, and went against time as the seconds were winding down fast. Mark Macapagal, who was unable to find a good angle because of the SMB defenders bothering him, passed the ball to Reavis who was open at the baseline arc. I thought he was going to drive towards the basket to tie the ballgame into an overtime, but he instead went for a three. Alas, his try went short, then Hontiveros grabbed the rebound and Wilson was fouled...
Well, it was over for the Kings. Dammit, dammit, dammit!
Now they're on a 0-2 deficit. Will the Kings have to panic right now? I believe that's not the right time, not now, I think.
I know they're the only team to rise from that kind of deep rubble in the finals series. They've done it once, and I'm sure they can do it here. Only the endgame poise, the endgame poise, man, that was absent in this last night's game. I think they should concentrate on that.
No, I don't believe they can't panic and they won't. I'm sure Coach Jong Uichico will consider this aspect. They can win big games, and I'm positive that they will see the light of day in this finals series.
Good luck for Valentines' game!
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