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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider Basketball reaches its peak this June

Basketball reaches its peak this June

Published Jun 5, 2026 12:05 am  |  Updated Jun 4, 2026 05:42 pm
EDITORS DESK
Basketball is back in its rightful throne. Perhaps, unintentionally, we have been divided by the rise of other sports into mass consciousness or just plainly distracted from caring about ticket purchases, resulting in half-empty arenas that some have judged as a distress to a disaster knocking on the gates of the PBA.
But this month of June should see us Filipinos stuck to our televisions, smartphones, or laptops, cheering, mocking, and maybe bawling at an outcome we couldn't bear.
Basketball is woven in every fiber of our culture and society, and the next few weeks could be a reminder of how strongly we have loved the sport.
The PBA Commissioner's Cup offers another Finals matchup that is so familiar it has become the gold standard. Talk about the Finals, then it should be Barangay Ginebra and TNT.
The Gin Kings, quintessentially the crowd favorites, had to go through the wringer and survive the pesky Rain or Shine Elasto Painters. The young guns of Yeng Guiao gave Tim Cone's poster boys a semis showdown comparable to a championship series.
After six games, Ginebra prevailed, but not without extra noise coming from the heated verbal tussle between Guiao and SMC's Al Chua. The issue has since subsided, and the Kings have moved on to focus on the task at hand.
The Tropang 5G, meanwhile, pounced on the Meralco Bolts, 4-2. But the team suffered a big blow to its title aspirations with the injury of the well-celebrated import Bol Bol, who went down with a devastating Achilles tear in Game 2 of the semifinals.
He was replaced by Chris McCullough, who once steered San Miguel to a PBA crown of the same conference in 2019.
In Game 1 of the Finals last Wednesday, June 3, Justin Brownlee of the Kings sank a go-ahead jumper with 0.6 seconds left to lift his squad to a 102-100 escape over the Tropa.
Before the eyes of thousands in attendance at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, the 500,000 watching on YouTube, and a few more on illegal viewing pages, Brownlee proved once again why he is adored by the legion of fans with another cold-blooded shot that should make the naturalized Filipino one of all-time greats.
Over at the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks dispute the Larry O'Brien Trophy in a best-of-seven Finals.
As enticing as the storylines between the rivals are, this basketball-crazed nation is surely excited to watch San Antonio's Dylan Harper and New York's Jordan Clarkson as one of them can become the first Filipino-blooded player to win an NBA title.
Harper, selected second overall last year, traces his roots to his mother who came from Bataan.
Clarkson's grandmother, meanwhile, hails from Pampanga.
As rowdy as this could be with plenty of choices to watch our favorite sport, and with one filling the gap in our everyday routine — morning for the NBA and evening for the local PBA — let us just appreciate the game we have dreamed to be part of.
One way or another, we have all imagined playing against Michael Jordan, or in younger generations, June Mar Fajardo.
Basketball truly holds a special place in our hearts. Let us all enjoy this season.
(Ramon Rafael Bonilla is the editor of Manila Bulletin's Sports section.)
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