STRONG FINISH GIVES PETRON BLAZE EARLY EDGE
Nope, it wasn’t Houston versus Indiana
That was the night before in an NBA pre-season game.
This time it was Game One of the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals between No. 1 seed Petron Blaze and No. 2 San Mig Coffee – and for three quarters it was.
Then the Boosters borrowed a page from Dwight Howard, James Harden, Jeremy Lin and the Rockets, blowing the Mixers away with a slew of three-pointers in the fourth quarter for a runaway 100-84 victory in the opener.
Game 2 of the PLDT-Telpad Best-of-7 championship series is Sunday at 4:45 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, with the Mixers back to where they started – scheming ways to stop Junmar Fajardo.
Only this time, it isn’t just the 6-foot-10 rookie center whom they will have to deal with.
Elijah Millsap struck for his third triple-double with 35 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, while five others contributed double figures, underscoring the Boosters’ wide array of weapons at their disposal.
The last time a PBA player completed a triple-double in Game One of a finals was in the 2011 Governors’ Cup when Anthony Grandy led Petron to the title over Talk ‘N Text.
“This win boosts our confidence and we’re very happy about it,” said Petron coach Gee Abanilla. “I think it’s a total team effort.”
San Mig coach Tim Cone lamented their fourth quarter meltdown.
“They just broke us down with their three-point shots in the fourth quarter,” said San Mig coach Tim Cone. “I felt we played a little satisfied and happy to be in the finals. We didn’t have enough focus.”
Marqus Blakely led San Mig with 23 points and 14 rebounds but had just had two in the fourth quarter when Millsap was shooting the lights out with 14. Marc Pingris added 16, Peter June Simon 13 and Joe Devance 10. But James Yap played just 18 minutes after getting held down to 3 of 9 from the floor, missing all three of his 3-pointers.
“We got to bring our best against this team,” said Cone.
The Mixers rallied from 19 points down in the first quarter to level at 36-all behind Marqus Blakely and Peter June Simon before the Boosters regained the lead at the half, 41-36.
Petron shot 51 percent in the first two quarters, with Elijah Millsap scoring 16 and Arwind Santos adding 14 as the Boosters weathered the Mixers heavy pounding under the boards from high post lobs from Yancy de Ocampo (4 assists).
Hitting over 60 percent of their shots, the Boosters raced to a 19-6 lead before Millsap slipped on a wet spot near the San Mig basket where teammate Alex Cabagnot had earlier fallen..
Millsap appeared to have hurt his left hip as he struggled back to the bench, but he returned after a three-minute rest to spark another Petron surge that made it 30-18 early in the second quarter.
Blakely then took over as San Mig worked a high post-low post offensive play to perfection with De Ocampo drawing 6-foot-10 Junmar Fajardo out of the paint and then throwing lob passes to at point-blank range.
Simon also nailed back-to-back jumpers that helped tie the count, 36-all, before Santos’ fast break and Millsap’s 3-pointer gave the Boosters some breathing room going to the locker room.
Meanwhile, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, with the first round pick originally owned by the Air21 Express, won the lottery and the chance to claim 7-footer Greg Slaughter in the Nov. 3 draft.
PBA commissioner Chito Salud presided over the lottery at halftime, with assistant team manager Dandy Henares representing the Express, who had two balls (67 percent chance), and team manager BJ Manalo there in behalf of Globalport, which had one (33 percent).
San Mig Coffee, which owned Globalport’s first round pick, would have benefited had the Batang Pier won the lottery.
It has been 17 years since Ginebra obtained a No. 1 pick in 6-foot-9 former Adamson Falcon center Marlou Aquino. (WJRHT)
The scores:
Petron 100 – Millsap 35, Santos 16, Fajardo 12, Lassiter 12, Lutz 11, Cabagnot 10, Miranda 2, Tubid 2, Kramer 0.
San Mig Coffee 84 – Blakely 23, Pingris 16, Simon 13, Devance 10, Yap 8, Barroca 6, De Ocampo 4, Mallari 2, Reavis 2, Acuna 0.
Quarters: 23-18, 41-36, 59-61, 100-84
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
