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Ginebra eyes pivotal win vs Meralco

By Manila Times - 6 months ago

BARANGAY Ginebra shoots for the driver's seat in the PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series as the Gin Kings clash with the Meralco Bolts in the pivotal Game 5 on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.

Game time is at 6:15 p.m.

The league's crowd favorite got the big lift from veteran playmaker LA Tenorio, getting off to an energetic start and sustaining it all throughout in pulverizing Meralco, 90-71, last Friday.

The win allowed Ginebra to tie the series at two games apiece.

Tim Cone admits that winning by a big margin or just by a solitary point doesn't make any difference since it only gives them one win in the semifinal series.

It's no wonder that the American mentor is bracing for a more difficult Game 5, considering the way Meralco's active consultant Nenad Vucinic prepares the Bolts.

"Game 5 is gonna be pivotal, no doubt about it," Cone said. "They have a great coach over there, so like I said before, I feel I got totally outcoached in this series. He's (Vucinic) gonna make some really good adjustments, we'll see what we will do from there."

After falling short in Game 1 via a 92-88 defeat, Meralco struck back by taking Games 2 (103-91) and 3 (87-80) to take a 2-1 series lead.

But Cone made the brilliant move by inserting veteran playmaker LA Tenorio in the starting unit for Game 4, along with Stanley Pringle, which caught Meralco off guard.

The result was a 31-15 start in the opening quarter, as Tenorio supplied the leadership on the floor, with the Ginebra veteran finishing with seven points, four rebounds, six assists and two steals en route to earning Best Player of the game honors.

Cone, however, is mulling if he and his Ginebra coaching staff will tweak its starting unit anew or not heading to Game 5.

"Obviously in Game 3, we were so totally outplayed and outcoached, so we have to come out with something different. So in Game 5, we have to take a look," he said. "Maybe we have to come up with another lineup that they don't know, or maybe come back the same way."

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