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FOR ALL THE MARBLES
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OUT with the crystal balls: Oda Mae Brown, meet Joe Devance.
Brown, of course, was the psychic character played by Whoopi Goldberg in the 1990 film Ghost who brought together two star-crossed lovers for one final dance.
Devance, on the other hand, is the San Mig Coffee player who predicted two weeks ago that the PLDT-Telpad PBA Governors’ Cup Finals will go to a last waltz.
Joe DV is right on the money. And now he’s even about to one-up Whoopi’s Oda Mae.
Game 7 kicks off at 8 p.m. Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, with San Mig Coffee and Petron Blaze, after waging war through six emotionally-draining games, playing “for all the marbles,” as Boosters coach Gee Abanilla said following their 99-88 victory in Game 6 Wednesday.
Also up for grabs is the Papa John’s-PBA Press Corps Finals MVP plaque.
“This is a dream for all players and coaches,” said Abanilla, on his rookie year as a PBA head coach.
But a potential nightmare for Tim Cone, the veteran San Mig Coffee mentor.
“We wanted to avoid a winner-take-all because too many things can happen in that situation,” he said after the loss that leveled the best-of-7 series at 3-3. “We certainly had our chances tonight. But beating Petron three games in a row is a huge mountain to climb.”
All stats have now been tossed out the window, all scouting reports shredded, all historical facts sent back to the archives. Everything comes down to this one final game.
And Devance “knows” how the closing seconds will play out.
Conjuring up a head-shaking scenario during the PBA Pre-Finals press conference at the Sambokojin Grille in Libis, Quezon City, Devance pictured Blakely getting fouled and going to the line with a second remaining and Petron up by one.
Blakely makes his first free throw, according to Joe DV’s vision, tying the score, but misses the second. Devance then springs over everybody else and tips in the ball to beat the buzzer and spark wild celebration inside the Big Dome as balloons and confetti rain down from the catwalk and coliseum speakers blare out Queen’s “We Are The Champions.”
“Indeed we are, and I’m the hero,” Devance deadpanned, drawing laughter all around that afternoon.
Nobody’s laughing now – least of all the Boosters, who knew in their hearts that their conference came close to ending in Game 6 had fate, in the form of Elijah Millsap, not intervened in the final 12 minutes.
It didn’t help the Mixers, of course, that they clanged 19 three-point shots and went eight less free throws after ruling that department with an iron hand in the Finals.
But it was San Mig’s failure to shut down Millsap in the crunch that ultimately dealt the Mixers the killer blow.
Millsap struck for 13 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter, nine in succession as he tirelessly pumped fuel to the Boosters’ sputtering cause after the Mixers had let loose PJ Simon (11 of his 14 in the 4 th ) and come back from 16 points to grab the lead with five minutes left.
His tip-in with 3:07 to go made it 89-86 and the Mixers, hurt by consecutive Marqus Blakely turnovers, went silent from there.
“This was a game we were not willing to lose,” said Millsap, who aggravated a painful jammed toe after getting tripped by Alex Mallari halfway in the second quarter.
Neither was Cone willing, but some of his players apparently were not as resolute.
“As I’ve said before, we cannot play this team without all cylinders firing,” he said. “We have to be very precise in our execution in both sides of the floor.”
A lone basket by Blakely in the fourth with five errors overall, plus Mark Barroca going scoreless in 29 minutes, drove home Cone’s point.
MVP Arwind Santos, a subject of talks after his poor performance in Games 4 and 5 and his ensuing heart-wrenching appeal for support and understanding, redeemed himself with 12 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals in 37 minutes, picking up early fouls while holding Blakely to two points in the first quarter but managing to stay in the game till the end.
Next to Millsap (3 triples, 6 assists, 2 steals), Junmar Fajardo (21 points, 14 rebounds, 3 blocks) and Alex Cabagnot (12 points, 6 assists), Santos will be the man to watch for Petron, while Blakely, Simon, James Yap and Marc Pingris share the spotlight for San Mig Coffee.
Joe Devance? Look for him along the wings just outside the 3-point arc. Unless Game 7 comes down the wire and a whistle blows with two or three seconds remaining.
Then look for him to fulfill his prophecy. (WJRHT)
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EDITORS' PICK
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