Meralco goes for a commanding 3-1 lead on Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and put a stranglehold on the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals in Game 4 Wednesday, April 13 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Bolts, halfway from ending their series of miseries against the Gin Kings, look to put up another scrappy performance before another huge crowd set to witness the all-important match set at 6 p.m.
A stellar defensive effort in the second half enabled Meralco to reclaim the series lead with an 83-74 win last Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena despite trailing by 13 in the second quarter.
Import Tony Bishop, Cliff Hodge, Chris Newsome and Allein Maliksi led the charge for Meralco in that win, and they are also expected to put the same production in what could be another closely-fought affair.
Aaron Black, Chris Banchero, Raymond Almazan could also play vital roles for coach Norman Black, who is bracing for major adjustments from Ginebra counterpart Tim Cone.
A disappointing windup put the Gin Kings behind, but their fans are looking at their beloved players to pull off a repeat of the 2016 Governors’ Cup Finals meeting between both sides.
In that series, Ginebra bounced back from a 2-1 deficit to take the next three games, securing the championship on Justin Brownlee’s buzzer-beating three.
But Brownlee struggled in Ginebra’s two losses, with Game 3 seeing him being held to 19 points on 8-of-21 shooting, including a 2-of-12 clip in the second half.
Many will anticipate Brownlee to bounce back, just like in Game 2 when he scored 36 points in a 99-93 win last Friday.
LA Tenorio hopes to also get out of his own shooting slump while Scottie Thompson and Christian Standhardinger hope to continue their all-around production.
There’s also the possibility of Japeth Aguilar to finally make his return after missing the last six games, including the first three of the series, due to a calf injury.
Cone previously hinted that Aguilar may return as late as Game 4.
The game comes after the league hands out the winners of the Best Player of the Conference and Best Import awards.
Thompson and Brownlee are favored to have their names called during the short ceremony.