WITH a massive display of NSD spirit, Barangay Ginebra returned to familiar territory.
Unleashing a strong finishing kick capped by the Justin Brownlee-to-Christian Standhardinger winning play, the Gin Kings rallied past San Miguel Beer, 87-85, to complete a 3-0 semis sweep and advance to the PBA Governors' Cup finals Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Standhardinger's marginal bucket put the finishing touches to Ginebra's fightback from a seven-point deficit in the last 3:04 and salvaged the clincher despite falling behind by as many as 18.
Riding on this dramatic result, Tim Cone's charges qualified for the championship round for the fifth time in the last six editions of the season-ending meet.
Up next for the three-peat-seeking Gin Kings are either familiar rival Meralco or TNT, which are locked in a 1-1 standoff as of posting time.
Sponsored content:
After runaway wins of 121-112 and 121-103 in the first two games, the crowd darlings had to dig deeper before pulling through with the closeout.
"Certainly different from the first two games. Just real struggle," Cone said after achieving the seemingly impossible - beat mighty SMB three straight in a five-game series,.
"I was ready to give up on that one (3-0 sweep) at various times of the game. But the players wouldn't quit. If I may borrow from coach Sonny (Jaworksi), it's NSD, never-say-die, at its finest," he said.
"Every timeout, I was looking into their eyes, at their body language to see if they're ready to pack it in and go fight on Friday. But I never saw it so I stayed with them. We made a couple of big shots and nice stops and before we knew it, we won the game," he added.
SMB was still up, 82-76, before Standhardinger, Jeremiah Gray and Brownlee led a fiery finish for Ginebra.
Sponsored content:
The Beermen, through Marcio Lassiter's trey, managed to still tie up it at 85-all. But the Gin Kings quickly wrested the driver's seat in the next sequence with Brownlee wiggling past the defenders then feeding an open Standhardinger for the open go-ahead.
Ginebra then defended Lassiter's attempt at a game-winner from beyond the arc at the buzzer to seal the deal.
Brownlee (22 markers, 14 rebounds and seven assists) and local aces Scottie Thompson (17-11) and Standhardinger (14-17) posted double-double numbers for Ginebra in the clincher. (OL)
The Scores:
Ginebra 87 - Brownlee 22, Thompson 17, Standhardinger 14, Gray 13, Malonzo 12, Pinto 4, Pessumal 3, Mariano 2, Pringle 0.
San Miguel 85 - Clark 16, Perez 14, Lassiter 13, Cruz 12, Enciso 11, Tautuaa 6, Herndon 6, Ross 5, Manuel 2.
Quarterscores: 17-16, 38-50, 58-70, 87-85.
