Barangay Ginebra San Miguel capped off a season full of challenges with another championship after finishing off Meralco, 103-92, to win the PBA Governors’ Cup crown before another record crowd Friday, April 22 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
LA Tenorio finally broke his offensive slump in the most timely fashion, import Justin Brownlee shook off a cold first half while Scottie Thompson and Christian Standhardinger once again played big as the Gin Kings won the series, 4-2, in front of 20,224 fans.
The delay of the eventual title-clinching game due to a fire that broke out inside the Smart Araneta Coliseum didn’t hamper Ginebra’s march to the top.
Ginebra took its fourth title in the last five editions of the season-ending conference, all at the expense of Meralco which will endure another painful defeat against the league’s most popular ballclub.
READ: Ginebra, Meralco try to extend playoff dominance in finals rematch
It was Ginebra’s 14th championship, breaking its tie with legendary Crispa while sharing second on the all-time list alongside Magnolia Pambansang Manok and the recently-departed Alaska franchise.
Coach Tim Cone steered Ginebra to its sixth title since being tapped to turn the fortunes of the once-floundering squad while capturing a record-extending 24th.
Thompson was the unanimous choice as the Honda-PBA Press Corps Finals Most Valuable Player following an all-around performance that saw Ginebra bounced back from losing Game 1 and falling behind 2-1 in the series.
Coming off a disappointing quarters exit in the Philippine Cup, Ginebra had hopes of getting another crown with Brownlee back in the fold.
Ginebra started the conference with three straight wins before a Christmas Day defeat over Magnolia began the first of four consecutive defeats, a skid that stretched into the league’s resumption following a long break due to the Covid-19 surge.
The Gin Kings picked up some momentum late in the eliminations to finish in sixth place at 6-5, but needed a twice-to-beat advantage to beat third-ranked TNT Tropang Giga.
And they were to pull it off against the Philippine Cup champions before dispatching NLEX in the semis with a 3-1 triumph.
Not even losing two of the first three games prevented the Gin Kings from turning things around and lifting the championship before a big crowd which is something the league didn’t experience for the last two years because of the pandemic.
Tenorio scored a game-high 30 points on 13-of-26 shooting after averaging 11.2 points on 31-percent shooting in the previous five matches of the championship.
Brownlee only had two points in the opening two quarters before he picked up his game after halftime on his way to scoring 24 with 16 rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks to complete a fifth title since he came over in 2016.
Thompson capped off a series to remember with 15 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals while Standhardinger posted 19 points and 13 boards.
The first half saw 13 lead changes before Ginebra and Meralco went to their respective locker rooms with a 47-all tie at the break.
But the third belonged to Ginebra as Brownlee began to heat up, Tenorio picked up where he left off in the first 24 minutes while Thompson and Standhardinger also contributed before the quarter ended with a 78-73 lead.
Then Tenorio and Brownlee conspired to turn the contest into a laugher with a 96-80 advantage, a big pullaway that left the Bolts deflated.
The scores:
GINEBRA 103 — Tenorio 30, Brownlee 24, Standhardinger 19, Thompson 15, J. Pinto 5, Tolentino 6, Aguilar 2, Chan 2, Mariano 0.
MERALCO 92 — Bishop 21, Black 18, Maliksi 15, Almazan 11, Newsome 11, Banchero 6, Hodge 5, Quinto 5, Belo 0, Caram 0.
Quarters: 19-24, 47-47, 78-73, 103-92.