One more ride

It’s not over for the Fast and the Furious, at least, that’s what Barangay Ginebra fans are hoping. From all indications, Mark Caguioa and JayJay Helterbrand will be back for another Ginebra ride next season, fresh from a remarkable journey back to the top in the just-concluded PBA Governors Cup.

To be sure, they’re not spring chickens anymore. Their numbers are down, their minutes are low. But in Ginebra coach Tim Cone’s scheme of things, a player’s worth isn’t measured by numbers. In his mind, a player can go scoreless but still make an impact in the game. Take Sol Mercado’s case. In the title-clinching Game 6 last Wednesday, Mercado went scoreless in 24:01 minutes as a starter but had three rebounds and an assist. When the smoke of battle cleared, Ginebra beat Meralco, 91-88.

Similarly, Ginebra guards L. A. Tenorio, Aljon Mariano and Mercado were blanked in Game 4 of the semifinal series against San Miguel Beer. They bounced back with a vengeance in the Game 5 closer with Mercado hitting 22, Tenorio 18 and Mariano, 11, as Ginebra took out San Miguel, 117-92.

Caguioa, 36, and Helterbrand, 40, are both former PBA MVPs. Helterbrand was honored in 2009 and Caguioa in 2012. They’ve been cited as two of the PBA’s 40 greatest players ever. Caguioa was the third overall pick in the 2001 draft after Willie Miller and Mike Hrabak. The only other player still active from the 2001 draft is Star’s P. J. Simon who was the 43rd overall pick in the fifth round. Helterbrand joined Ginebra as a direct hire from the defunct MBA in 2000. They haven’t played for any other franchise than Ginebra. In fact, they’re the only two holdovers from Ginebra’s previous title squad in the 2007-08 Fiesta Conference under coach Joseph Uichico.

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The wonder of Cone’s brilliance is his ability to maximize the talents at his disposal. He didn’t grumble that Greg Slaughter couldn’t play in the Finals and that Chris Ellis wasn’t back in 100 percent condition. Instead, he played the cards that were available and his aces included the Fast and the Furious. It wasn’t an accident that Caguioa scored a conference-high 14 points in Game 1 of the Finals and averaged 7.7 points in the series. It also wasn’t an accident that Helterbrand celebrated his 40th birthday by firing 11 points, on 4-of-4 from the field including three triples, in the fourth period to key Ginebra’s 88-86 win over Meralco in Game 4.

Cone tried his small ball combination with Tenorio, Thompson and Mercado as starters in the first three games but after Meralco bolted out to a 2-1 lead, he adjusted by inserting Joe DeVance in his first five to add size to the formation. Mercado came off the bench in Game 4 then Thompson was the reliever in Games 5 and 6, keeping DeVance in the starting cast. The subtle tweak was meant to neutralize Meralco’s size advantage and it worked. It would’ve been an easier task if Slaughter could play but Cone never bothered to imagine the impossibility. He had a job to do with the tools in his hands and that’s what he set out to accomplish, not minding what could’ve been.

No doubt, Meralco rookie Chris Newsome was a distinct problem for Cone. He was a matchup nightmare because of his versatility to play one, two or three. Jimmy Alapag was another headache. He averaged 15.5 points in Meralco’s two wins in the Finals. But as the series progressed, Cone deployed a platoon of guards to wear out the Bolts’ backcourt. That’s where Caguioa and Helterbrand contributed in a big way. Black’s guards corps counted on Baser Amer, Anjo Caram and Jonathan Uyloan but they couldn’t keep in step with Tenorio, Mercado, Thompson, Mariano and the Fast and the Furious.

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Ginebra import Justin Brownlee lost out to Meralco’s Allen Durham in the Best Import race but had the last laugh. Durham missed a layup that could’ve spelled the difference in the dying seconds of Game 6 while Brownlee hit a triple – off Durham – at the buzzer to clinch it. And to think that Brownlee wasn’t Ginebra’s original choice for an import. Paul Harris opened the conference for Ginebra but hurt his hand to pave the way for Brownlee’s arrival. Brownlee was on his way to China when the call came to replace Harris.

Brownlee, who has a twin sister Justina, wasn’t a big-time scorer in two seasons at St. John’s University, the New York school that produced Mark Jackson, Chris Mullin and Metta World Peace. He averaged 6.8 points in 2009-10 and 12.3 points in 2010-11. But in the 2014 NBA D-League, Brownlee shot 42 points against Los Angeles and in France last February, he buried eight three-pointers against Chalon Reims so his ability to put the ball in the hole was unquestioned entering the PBA. Brownlee’s never played in the NBA but suited up for New York and Charlotte in the summer league. His experience as an import in premier leagues in Italy and France was a major plus in boosting his confidence to take the big shots in the PBA. And no shot was bigger than the one he took and made to close out Game 6.

Cone’s mastery was evident in the way Ginebra dictated the tone of the Finals. In Ginebra’s four wins, Meralco never scored 90 or more in any game and was held to an average of 83.5 points. The Bolts averaged 110.5 points in their two wins so it was clear that whenever Ginebra kept the scores low and played slow, Meralco was thrown out of rhythm. Ginebra put a premium on every possession and in Game 6, had 12 more field goal attempts with four less turnovers and four more steals. That sealed the deal as it came down to the last possession, the last execution and the last basket of the series.