MERALCO and Barangay Ginebra duke it out one last time in the PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinals as action shifts to San Jose, Batangas in an out-of-town match at the FPJ Arena.
The Bolts forced the winner-take-all match after gutting out an 86-81 triumph over the Gin Kings on Wednesday in a crucial Game 6 to keep their Finals hopes alive.
Now everything boils down to the final game of the series which begins at 7:30 p.m. with fans from Batangas expected to flock the playing venue named after the late "king" of Philippine movies.
"We have great respect for Ginebra on what they do. It's (Game 7) gonna be hard," said Meralco coach Luigi Trillo.
The Meralco mentor said they are not thinking of any other thing but primarily focus on winning the rubber match.
"They (Gin Kings) are veterans as well. We just have to focus on that last game, a treat for the PBA fans because this is the first time we will be out of town (in a Game 7)," he added.
The winner of this game advances to the best-of-seven title series, where San Miguel Beer will be waiting in the wings.
Allein Maliksi played a major role in Meralco's Game 6 win, firing 12 of his 14 points in the last period to give the much-needed lift and the win for the Bolts.
Bong Quino, who led the Bolts with 23 points, along with Chris Banchero, Chris Newsome, big man Raymond Almazan and Cliff Hodge are all expected to lay their all on the court against the Gin Kings.
Ginebra will have to find a way to match Meralco's energy, whose sustained defense held the league's top crowd drawer to just 36 percent shooting last Wednesday.
Scottie Thompson and Maverick Ahanmisi shot a combined 6-of-22 from the floor.
Christian Standhardinger, who scored 34 in Ginebra's Game 5 victory, had to bleed for every point in the Gin Kings' narrow loss in Game 6. He still managed to finish with 19 points.
The Filipino-German though is expected to try to throw his weight at the post on Friday, alongside front court partner Japeth Aguilar as Ginebra look to exploit every advantage they have against Meralco's frontline.
Read The Rest at :
