Meltdown was inevitable

Dealing with a short rotation was a challenge for Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone in the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals against TNT and when the Tropa clinched the title via a 95-85 win in Game Six at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last Friday, it was clear that lack of depth took a heavy toll in the long series.

Ginebra came off a 3-0 triumph over Meralco in the quarters and a 4-2 victory over San Miguel Beer in the semis to advance to the Finals. It wasn’t easy taking down Allen Durham and EJ Anosike, both wide-bodied bully boys who wore down Justin Brownlee. Then came Rondae Hollis-Jefferson whose versatility was off the charts and provided a different style from Durham or Anosike to give Ginebra’s defenders fits.

Ginebra appeared somewhat burned out to start the Finals, losing Games One and Two. But Cone made crucial adjustments to take Games Three and Four, starting LA Tenorio in both outings and bringing Joe DeVance off the bench to extend his rotation. Brownlee got back his bearings and sizzled for 34 points in Game Four after two sub-20 point outputs. In Game Five, however, Brownlee struggled with a PBA career-low eight points. Japeth Aguilar and Mav Ahanmisi scored conference lows as they seemed to take the night off for a respite. Stephen Holt had no rebound, no assist and no steal in the 27-point rout. The gambit was to regroup for Game Six and push for a Game Seven.

For a while, it looked like a Game Seven would happen. Ginebra started the fourth quarter with an eight-point lead in Game Six. Then came the meltdown. Ginebra missed its last seven shots and was blanked in the final 4:57 as TNT unloaded a 12-0 bomb to win, 95-85. Ginebra was held to 11 points, nine from RJ Abarrientos, in the last 12 minutes. Aguilar, visibly spent, played only 2:25 minutes in the fourth and logged 17:03 in total, way below his average of 29:33 in the Finals. TNT had more rebounds, 13-5, second chance points, 6-0, paint points, 12-4, and assists, 7-3, in the payoff period where Ginebra didn’t take a single free throw, finishing with only 14 tries for the game when its average was 24.3 in the first four encounters. Ginebra had no legs left to survive TNT’s fourth-quarter storm.

TNT coach Chot Reyes said Ginebra’s short rotation was a factor. “We were banking on a meltdown,” he admitted. “They had open looks in the fourth but couldn’t connect. We saw it in Game Six of the Ginebra semis against San Miguel when in the homestretch, they couldn’t hit shots but still managed to win. Ginebra will be a different team when (Jamie) Malonzo, (Jeremiah) Gray and (Isaac) Go come back.”

Like Cone, Reyes tweaked his starting lineups throughout the series. “When it was tied 2-2, we had a long talk with the guys and decided to start Kelly (Williams) in Game Five,” he said. “We also brought back Rey (Nambatac) as a starter. Both Kelly and Rey were negatives so it was a risk but we told them to just contribute. Kelly and I go back a long way so I knew what he could do.” Williams played the entire fourth quarter and anchored TNT’s defense while another veteran Jayson Castro settled down the troops to bring home the trophy.