GINEBRA clamped down when it mattered most and got away with an 86-76 victory over Meralco Sunday that gave the defending champion a 2-0 lead in their PBA Governors Cup championship series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Kings held the Bolts to a solitary point inside the last six minutes while rattling off 19 points of their own to notch the follow up to their 102-87 win in the best-of-seven series' opener last Friday in Lucena City.
In the league's 42-year history, 30 of 36 teams which erected a 2-0 lead in such a finals series went on to win the crown and Ginebra could come closer to joining the list should it win anew in Game 3 on Wednesday.
Kings coach Tim Cone is not so sure. "We beat them two in a row, but they can certainly beat us two in a row," he said.
Hope springs eternal for Meralco coach Norman Black. "It's tough... but until they win four games," he said before trailing off.
Sponsored content:
Justin Brownlee led Ginebra with 19 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists while Japeth Aguilar, LA Tenorio and Joe Devance had at least 10 points for Ginebra.
Allen Durham played like the back-to-back Best Import that he is, racking up 25 points, 22 rebounds and seven assists.
Like in Game 1, however, Durham sorely lacked support as only Baser Amer and Ranidel de Ocampo managed to score in double digits with 10 points apiece.
Ginebra trailed by nine points early, regained control in the second period and immediately ceded it in the third before falling behind by 69-75 off a drive by Cliff Hodge, still 5:56 left.
That was when Meralco unraveled, missing shots, free throws and even turning the ball over, notching its only point on a De Ocampo charity split.
Sponsored content:
Aguilar's dunk set up by Tenorio, meanwhile, started Ginebra's binge although it was Brownlee and Tenorio who sustained the run with the latter booming in a shotclock-beating triple that made it an 82-76 count, only 1:07 to go.
"The dagger was really LA's shot. That really separated them from us," said Black.
