Displaying extraordinary effort on both ends of the floor, Barangay Ginebra outplayed a gutsy and equally relentless Bay Area side, 96-81, to take the head start in the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup on Christmas Day.
The first Game 1 of any championship series drew 18,252 fans at the Mall of Asia Arena, most of them anxious to see the Gin Kings dominate a powerhouse Dragons team from Hong Kong.
Supporters of the league’s most popular team didn’t go home disappointed as they watched with pure joy how the Gin Kings defended the home turf and methodically took the Dragons out of their comfort zone right from the get-go.
The Gin Kings held the Dragons to only 40 points in the first half. The visitors entered the finals as the tournament’s No.1 team in scoring, averaging more than 110 points per game.
Bay Area’s 81 points were the lowest produced this conference as Barangay Ginebra’s defense bottled up Bay Area import Andrew Nicholson and Zu Songwei, who was saddled with foul troubles.
Zu picked up three early fouls in the first period and was hardly utilized, then incurred his fourth foul before the end of the half.
On defense, it was Christian Standhardinger, who did the dirty job, making life difficult for Nicholson, a veteran from the National Basketball Association, who was held to eight points at the half.
Nicholson, the tournament’s scoring leader with 37 points per game, finished with 27 points, his lowest output this conference.
On the hustle charts, it was Scottie Thompson, the reigning Most Valuable Player, who led by example, diving for the loose balls, battling the bigger guys in rebounds, and sacrificing his body just to give his team extra possessions.
Then in offense, it was LA Tenorio, who presided for the Gin Kings.
Hardly utilized in the elimination round by head coach Tim Cone, Tenorio was preserved for big moments like the playoffs and the finals.
Before the start of the championship series, Tenorio increased his average to 19 points per game in the Gin Kings’ last two victories that sent them back to the finals.
At the start of the best-of-seven finals series, Tenorio pumped in 22 points, including three three-point shots. He also completed three steals and dished out three assists as he dominated his counterparts from Bay Area.
The Scores:
GINEBRA (96) — Brownlee 28, Tenorio 22, Standhardinger 16, Thompson 14, J.Aguilar 6, Pringle 5, Malonzo 3, Gray 2, Pessumal 0, R.Aguilar 0, Mariano 0.
BAY AREA (81) — Nicholson 27, Yang 12, Zhu 12, Lam 11, Ju 6, Song 5, Blankley 4, Liu 2, Zheng 2, Reid 0.
QUARTERS: 22-25, 45-40, 72-64, 96-81.
