MANILA, Philippines — With a foreign power on the opposing end, Barangay Ginebra’s foray in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals takes a larger, deeper meaning.
In the eyes of the Gin Kings, the Last Dance versus the fire-spewing Bay Area Dragons of Hong Kong is a virtual defend-the-homeland mission against a charging invader from overseas.
“It’s more than a PBA finals. We look at it as it’s not just Ginebra against Bay Area. It’s about the PBA against a foreign team. It’s almost as if we’re the national team playing somebody else,” Ginebra coach Tim Cone said on CNN Philippines’ Sports Desk yesterday.
As such, Cone believes his troops led by Justin Brownlee, LA Tenorio, Scottie Thompson, Christian Standhardinger, Jamie Malonzo and Japeth Aguilar will be more fired-up than ever in this nationalistic-flavored faceoff that begins on Christmas Day.
“You play for more than just yourselves at this point. I think that really motivates the guys and that motivation is going to make them play at an incredibly high level,” said the PBA’s winningest coach.
“So I think we’re going to see a finals that’s going to be harder and better than the finals we’ve seen in the past.”
Coached by decorated Australian Brian Goorjian and bannered by the efficient Andrew Nicholson, Kobey Lam, Glen Yang, Zhu Songwei, Hayden Blankley and 7-foot-5 Liu Chuanxing, the Dragons are threatening to complete their domination after ousting holder San Miguel in the semis, 3-1.
“Really pumped to be in a best-of-seven (title series) against Tim Cone and his team. Could not be happier,” said Goorjian of facing the Gin Kings, the group responsible for their worst loss of the tournament, 111-93, back in the elims.
The dreaded “sixth man” of Ginebra are expected to hound them no end but the Dragons aren’t fazed.
“It’s a great atmosphere out there in Game 4 even though they’re not cheering for us. But that’s why you play. Playing in a 20,000-seat stadium and having a full house and knowing that these games are going to be televised for all of China, for all of the world to see, it’s why you play,” said Goorjian, whose squad is out to match the feat of Nicholas Stoodley (1980 Invitational) as a foreign champion in the PBA.