Red Bull and Purefoods both exude great confidence although only one of them is in the driver’s seat and the other still in the chase in the two Gran Matador Brandy PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinals showdowns.
The Bulls try to put the San Miguel Beermen away while the Giants go for an equalizer against the Alaska Milk Aces in Game Four tonight at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Bulls overcame Danny Seigle’s 37-point explosion in pulling off a 99-95 decision in Game Three for a 2-1 lead over the Beermen in their duel. The Giants, meanwhile, recalled their efficient and vaunted defense to stop the Aces, 82-79, from erecting a commanding 3-0 advantage in their own side of the Final Four.
Coaches Yeng Guiao and Ryan Gregorio are hopeful their respective troops can make it two in a row today to boost their bids for another shot at a championship this season.
"This is a pivotal game. The momentum went to San Miguel after our Game Two defeat. But the momentum should shift back on our side for Sunday’s game," said Guiao moments after their nerve-wracking victory in Game Three.
"All we needed to do was to get one game, and now we believe we can win," said Gregorio also after their pulsating victory Friday.
Though expecting Alaska coach Tim Cone to make big adjustments in their game, Gregorio said he’ll stick on playing tough defense.
"We had an identity crisis in the first two games. We thought we’re an offensive team only to realize we can’t win on offense," said Gregorio. "We’ve got the right formula now. They will make the adjustments but we’ll not care about it. We’ll care about our game and our game is defense."
Guiao’s biggest fear is another huge game from Seigle.
"We barely survived a monster game from Seigle. Hopefully, he doesn’t have another monster game Sunday," said Guiao after overcoming a big scare from the prolific Fil-Am dead shot Friday.
As it is, Guiao said it is so tough to take away everything from San Miguel’s game.
"We tried to take away their post offense in Game Two. I think we’re pretty decent about that but then their three-point shots hurt us. It’s really tough to stop San Miguel," said Guiao.
Guiao thought they were lucky to win Game Three with Seigle losing his touch at crunch time.
Seigle, who erupted for 23 points in the second quarter, floundered in the heat of fierce battle at the finish, enabling the Barakos to scrape through to victory. He hastened their downfall as he sputtered when needed the most by the Beermen, going 1-of-6 from the field and 3-of-6 from the stripe in the final quarter.
Red Bull and San Miguel were fighting neck-and-neck when Seigle returned cold from the bench on foul-trouble situation.