Ginebra owned game 5 vs SMB, finally gets finals spot after 3 years.

Photo by PBA Media

In front of a huge crowd recorded at 20,374 gate attendance, the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel finally gets the bacon home as they send SMB on vacation after a huge victory. Ginebra dominated most part of the game but somehow lost their consistency when San Miguel made a huge 22-0 run and cut the lead down to only one. Tim Cone, regrouped  and called a time out after multiple turnovers and missed shots and then went back on the floor to continue the mission. Sol Mercado and Scottie Thompson together with Justin Brownlee lead the way for Ginebra as these 3 players scored more than twenty points each.


San Miguel on the other hand who had a successful night on their game 4 against Ginebra somehow lost their outside shooting in this game and made a lot of errors that caused turnovers that translated to points. Marcio Lassiter and Alex Cabagnot had a tough night having multiple misses on the rainbow country while their Import Elijah Millsap try to atleast inch their way back on the driver's seat.

For Sol Mercado and Thompson who struggled on their last outing prior to this game 5 three point field goals wise has finally found their attempts converted in to points as they made three pointers which helped them win the game. Very good defense is the reason why Ginebra was able to getaway from this game for they were able to deny Junmar Fajardo who is the focal point of the SMB offense. Then Tim Cone who tried to use Zone in game 4 went back to their usual defensive approach which is man to man that made it hard for out side gunners to make an attempt.

The crowd was emotional and started cheering even before the tip off and after the win as they will finally witness their favorite team to appear in the finals after 3 years.
Ginebra will be facing Meralco who will compete on their first ever Finals. Game 1 will be on Friday 7pm at the Araneta Coliseum and will be expected to be a tight one as these two teams battle for the first win of the best of 7 championship series.

Best Player of the Game : Scottie Thompson 24 points 15 rebounds.

The scores:

GINEBRA 117 - Brownlee 26, Thompson 24, Mercado 22, Tenorio 18, Mariano 11, Devance 6, Aguilar 5, Caguioa 2, Helterbrand 2, Marcelo 1, Cruz 0, Villamor 0.

SAN MIGUEL 92 - Santos 24, Millsap 18, Lassiter 11, Cabagnot 10, Heruela 9, David 7, Fajardo 7, Reyes 3, Ross 3, Arana 0, De Ocampo 0, Espinas 0, Semerad 0, Tubid 0.

Quarterscores: 33-12, 45-38, 81-53, 117-92