Gin Kings gun for back-to-back playoff wins, series clincher vs Beermen

MANILA, Philippines -- Breaking a pattern will be the goal of Barangay Ginebra in Game 6 as it aims to make the PBA Governors’ Cup finals on Sunday.

The Gin Kings, who are up 3-2 in the best-of-seven series, will take on the San Miguel Beermen Sunday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum

They are aiming to finally be the first team in the series to finally win back-to-back games.

“That's why it's so hard in the playoffs. I mean, I keep telling our team that the hardest win in a playoff is after you've won. That's the hardest win, because the other team is going to come back with adjustments, with more fire, with a different mindset, like we did today,” Ginebra head coach Tim Cone told reporters after their 121-92 win on Friday.

“We haven't won back-to-back yet. It's now flipping towards them. And I’m going to say the same thing [San Miguel head coach] Jorge [Gallent] did. We're going to try to stop the pattern and see if we can come out and win Game 6,” he added.

However, Cone stressed that it will be easier said than done.

“We had a different mindset. They're going to come back with that. If there's two teams that are fairly equal, you're going to have a series like this. If you have one team that's obviously more talented than the other team, then you might get back-to-back wins or whatever,” he said.

“But if you notice, oftentimes in a Game 7, it's usually the team that wins back-to-back is the one that wins the series… . But it's hard against a really good team like San Miguel.

“We expended so much energy to win tonight. It's hard to have that energy, the same energy, coming into the next game.”

RJ Abarrientos came up big in Game 5 for the Gin Kings, finishing with 28 points, three rebounds and two assists. Scottie Thompson added 22 markers, eight boards, five dimes and two steals.

The winner of the San Miguel-Ginebra will take on the TNT Tropang Giga, who already advanced to the finals by winning in five games against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.