GINEBRA COMPLETES AMAZING COMEBACK, NAILS SEMIS SPOT

08 February 2010

From: www.pba.ph

For the 25th straight year, no team has returned to defend the PBA All-Filipino crown. Talk n Text, which walked out of Game Four in protest of officiating, returned to play the deciding Game Five but bowed to Barangay Ginebra, thus, seeing the end of its reign as Philippine Cup champ. The Kings, instead, completed a stirring comeback from a 0-2 deficit in the best-of-five series, advancing to the semis versus the Alaska Milk Aces with a 113-100 conquest of the Texters in a double knockout watched by a crowd of over 21,000 at the Araneta Coliseum. Earlier, Purefoods, with its vast experience and deeper bench, outfought Rain or Shine, 95-85, to book its own place in the best-of-seven semifinal round which begins Wednesday in the same venue. The seeded teams all made the Final Four with third-ranked Purefoods arranging a duel with second seed San Miguel and No. 4 Ginebra setting up a separate series with top seed Alaska Milk. “It’s an awesome feeling we made it through despite all the things that had happened. We’ll cherish it tonight and go back to work tomorrow (Wednesday) to prepare for Alaska,” said Ginebra coach Jong Uichico. “I didn’t imagine we would play Game Five. There’s no other explanation except that the guys never gave up, the crowd was there for us and the Lord gave us this blessing,” Uichico also said. The Ginebra mentor, however, admitted they got some break with Talk n Text missing the services of Ranidel de Ocampo. The Texters, forfeiting Game Four particularly incensed on a flagrant foul penalty 2 incurred by De Ocampo in a collision with Ronald Tubid, made everybody guessing whether they’re showing up or not until they came towards the end of the Purefoods-Rain or Shine game. They came on board a van that picked them up at the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center where they heard a mass and did a shoot-around before proceeding to the Big Dome. The Texters, however, just couldn’t hit full rhythm. The Kings pounced on the situation, dictating the tempo early and leading by as many as 17 in the fourth quarter before completing the stirring series comeback, matching the feats done earlier by Crispa and Purefoods. JC Intal churned out a huge double-double performance with 28 points and 10 rebounds, Eric Menk had his own double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds with Ronald Tubid, Willy Wilson, Celino Cruz and Enrico Villanueva all adding double-digit outputs. Talk n Text coach Chot Reyes played only nine men with Mark Cardona, Jason Castro, Jimmy Alapag and Jarred Dillinger all making at least 17 points each. Obviously, they terribly missed the services of De Ocampo who averaged 12 points and nine rebounds in the first four games of the quarters. Intal, Tubid, Sunday Salvacion and Jayjay Helterbrand combined for nine triples against only one each by Castro and Renren Ritualo as the Kings took the half at 55-49. The Kings nailed six treys in the opening quarter, enabling the team to establish control early, carrying a 30-22 spread into the second period. Intal and Tubid both had a swashbuckling start with the former hitting 16 points and the latter 11 in the first 24 minutes of play. The Texters kept it close in the first half on points off turnovers, 10-0. (SB)

The scores: Ginebra 113 - Intal 28, Tubid 16, Menk 16, Wilson 14, Cruz 13, Villanueva 10, Salvacion 8, Baguio 3, Helterbrand 3, Caguioa 2. Talk N' Text 100 - Cardona 21, Castro 18, Alapag 18, Dillinger 17, Peek 9, Carey 8, Ritualo 5, De Ocampo Y. 4, Belasco 0. Quarterscores: 30-22, 55-49, 88-79, 113-100

TnT willing to play in knockout match

07 February 2010

By Nelson Beltran (The Philippine Star)

MANILA, Philippines - Barring a Talk n Text no-show, the KFC PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinal round climaxes tonight with a double knockout at the Araneta Coliseum.

Talk n Text board representative Ricky Vargas said he would recommend to Smart-PLDT chairman Manny V. Pangilinan that the Tropang Texters return to play tomorrow on condition that “we be assured of fairness and the refs associated with these unfairness not be allowed to officiate.”

The Texters and the Barangay Ginebra Kings are scheduled to meet in a do-or-die game at 6:30 p.m. with the winner advancing to the semifinal round versus the Alaska Milk Aces.

Purefoods and Rain or Shine clash in a separate knockout duel at 4 p.m. with the victor arranging a semis confrontation with San Miguel Beer.

Talk n Text enabled Ginebra to force a deciding Game Five after the Texters walked out of the game Friday night in protest of officiating.

“We will not hesitate to walk out again if such unfairness continues. We cannot, as a matter of principle, tolerate biased officiating in the PBA,” said Vargas.

League chairman Lito Alvarez made a personal appeal to the Talk n Text team to play for the sake of Filipino basketball fans.

“Millions of basketball-loving Filipinos from here and abroad are closely monitoring the developments of this great match-up. Let’s give this one to them,” said Alvarez in his appeal to the Smart-PLDT chair.

“I completely understand your position. We heard your actions loud and clear. In my capacity as chairman of the PBA board, I would like to assure you that we will not let your sacrifices go to waste. We will all take action to make our PBA -- the league we all love -- an even better league,” Alvarez added.

League commissioner Sonny Barrios deferred sanction on Talk n Text’s walkout but upheld the flagrant foul penalty 2 on Ranidel de Ocampo, meaning the 6-foot-6 center-forward is suspended from playing in Game Five.

“There’s no penalty meted on the walkout yet because it’s more important to Talk n Text the status of Ranidel de Ocampo. As sportsmen, they accepted the decision but not necessarily agreed,” said Barrios.

The Texters insisted all the league guidelines on flagrant infractions were not present on De Ocampo’s foul on Tubid. They trooped to their dugout after it was called “F-2” by the refs.

Talk n Text team manager Virgil Villavicencio said practice was cancelled yesterday but the players are ready to play today.

The Texters are looking to defend the crown they won over the Alaska Milk Aces last year.

In the other series, both the Giants and the Elasto Painters are confident they would pull through.

“In a do-or-die match, you throw away all the stats and all the things that happened in the last four games. You just make sure that you bring along your big fighting heart,” said Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio.

“It has turned out to be a classic match-up and it is nice to have a chance to play in Game Five despite being slowed down by injuries. If it requires inflammatory shots for our injured players to play, we’ll do it to salvage the conference,” Gregorio added.

Among the Giants nursing injuries are Kerby Raymundo (thigh), Rico Maierhofer (ankle), Paul Artadi (hamstring), James Yap (sore back) and Peter June Simon (knee).

Rain or Shine coach Caloy Garcia said the Giants still have the edge because of experience and talent but the Elasto Painters can score an upset with their big fighting heart.

Rain or Shine has survived four knockout games in the tournament so far, and the Elasto Painters are raring to make it five in a bid to stay in contention for a breakthrough finish.

“We want to carve a niche for our ball club. That’s our biggest motivation,” said Garcia.