On Fire!

What a Game 5. Ginebra came out of the gates scorching hot burning Meralco early on in what could have been one of their best starts in the series, it seems that the Gin Kings can't do anything wrong hitting jumper after jumper, running hard on every break and trowing crisp passes, highlighting it with a strong slam-dunk by Justin Brownlee over Al-Hussaini, ending the half with a 54-39 lead over the Bolts. To the Bolts credit they did finish the half strong with another clutch Reynel Hugnatan 3. 

In the start of the 2nd half Allen Durham become doubly aggressive making a bunch of points in the paint, " Nangalabaw" is what I would use like to call this . His Gins counterpart did not fell off too far as both imports showed up tonight exchanging baskets with the help from locals Japeth Aguilar, (16pts) , Sol Mercado and LA Tenorio. 

In the 4th Meralco kept on inching closer to the Ginebra lead, It also saw 3 defensive gems by the 2 teams, Cliff Hodge and Durham provided excellent help to Hugnatan, as Brownlee blew past him, but  was met in the ring by Hodge and Durham both getting a piece of Brownlee's shot. Another spectacular defensive exchange would be witnessed. As Durham was making a move to the basket Japeth Aguilar made an impressive block swating the ball from behind the Bolts import almost looking like the Lebron James chase -down in the NBA Finals, but Durham quick to recover swats away a Tenorio Layup on the other end, LA looking as though he had a clear path to basket was met in front of the ring by the Meralco import. 

Just as Meralco was making their move in the final stages of the 4th quarter -Sol Mercado hits a timely three pointer putting the Bolts at bay winding down the last 2 minutes. 

The biggest non call of the finals happen after this, as Sol Mercado lost control of the basketball seemed have hoped two steps with the ball getting locked between his right arm and hips. Replays prove this to be correct and coach Norman Black was livid, this non call led to dagger 3 point basket by GSM rookie sensation Scottie Thompson securing their win and ending Meralco's hopes for a comeback.

It was one of the best games of the series as both team's not giving up till the last minute. The 2 teams will have 2 days to regroup before game 6 tips off on Wednesday.

Photo by:

Cynthia Pedrosa