KILL or be killed.
The Barangay Ginebra Kings and the Meralco Bolts are in that situation now, on equal footing as they duke it out in a knockout set in their dispute for a PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinal ticket.
Both have been there and done that. The only expectation is that both come out and leave everything on the floor in a knockout showdown for the right to face top-seed North in the Final Four.
Game Three is at 7:30 p.m. at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo – a fitting closer in the latest iteration of the long-running Ginebra-Meralco rivalry.
The Kings took down the Bolts, 100-92, on Wednesday, and Chris Newsome and his teammates got back at Justin Brownlee and his pals, 108-104, on Friday, sending their quarters face-off to full route.
Six teams in Terrafirma, Blackwater, Phoenix, San Miguel Beer, Magnolia and Eastern have gotten the boot. Either Rain or Shine and Converge also took the exit by the time Ginebra and Meralco set out for battle, fighting to complete the semis cast with NorthPort, TNT and the ROS-Converge winner.
It’s been a highly charged, highly emotional series to the point that RJ Abarrientos bared on Instagram that he’s received death threats online after missing a try at sending Game Two to overtime.
League commissioner Willie Marcial didn’t take the threat that he has sought assistance from the National Bureau of Investigation lightly.
And there’s Meralco coach Luigi Trillo’s outburst in protest of the referees’ successive fouls called on his team. He drew a technical foul that seemed to fire up the Bolts leading to their crucial fightback win.
“Just emotional. All the coaches got it (technical foul). Coach Tim [Cone] got it the last time. Coach Nenad [Vucinic] din. It’s just the heat of the battle. I could be wrong at the time. 5-0 ‘yung fouls and the refs, they are also trying their best to get it right,” said Trillo later.
“But just like coaches are called to a higher standard kasi, we get fired. I just kept on reminding the referees of the same thing. So we have to be on them. It’s nothing personal. I understand, naiintindihan ko ‘yung trabaho nila, mahirap rin. So they have to understand that we have to complain. But it’s not like we’re complaining every time. It’s just the blatant ones,” Trillo added.
Both sides are expected to stay on their toes and stay locked in chasing the decisive W on Sunday.
Newsome sees a dogfight.
“Everybody knows what it’s like to play Ginebra. It’s going to be a tough grind-out game. That’s just how that system works over there, and you can tell both teams are battling, and it’s been that way for us for a long time,” said Newsome.
“(With) Meralco basketball, we like to play hard-nosed defense. Ginebra is very much the same way and that’s why there’s so much respect between the two clubs. We put it all out there and give each other good battles.”
