PAUL Lee delivered a buzzer-beater from a broken play and then found himself pinned on the floor by teammates in frenzied celebration.
With Lee's game-long brilliance capped by a winning play in the closing seconds, the Magnolia Hotshots stole a 96-95 win over the Barangay Ginebra Kings that forged a 1-1 tie in their PBA Commissioner's Cup best-of-five semifinal showdown at the PhilSports Arena Friday.
It had looked a lost game when Lee lost control of the ball from an in-bound play with five seconds left.
But the wild sequence that followed saw Lee surprisingly regaining control and then firing away as the Hotshots salvaged the game to send the series back to scratch.
Foiled was Ginebra's bid for a two-game-to-nil lead in the race-to-three-games series.
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Lee finished with a game-high 24 points also highlighted by five-of-eight clip from downtown while Nick Rakocevic came through with 23 markers and 20 rebounds in his return from an ejection in Game 1.
Jio Jalalon put in 15 markers and starred in their third-quarter juggernaut while Mark Barroca and Calvin Abueva had their moments in the wild, wooly finish.
For Ginebra, Justin Brownlee and Stanley Pringle were the lead stars before Lee delivered the biggest play of them all.
Struggling for just 11 markers in their 87-84 win in Game 1, Brownlee scattered 17 just in the first half in this game then added 17 more in the last two quarters.
Pringle, meanwhile, sizzled with 17 off the bench, knocking down five treys, with the last one pushing Ginebra ahead at 95-94 with 5.1 ticks to go.
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It turned out though that they'd yet to hear the last of the Hotshots.
And that's notwithstanding a Lee fumble in the early going of their final play.
Lee himself got the loose ball and without hesitation banged away the winning shot to the delight of the Hotshots bench and their supporters.
Bodies piled up on Lee on the floor in celebration of their escape act. (SB)
The Scores:
Magnolia 96 - Lee 24, Rakocevic 23, Jalalon 15, Abueva 10, Barroca 8, Sangalang 6, Ahanmisi 5, Dionisio 3, Dela Rosa 2, Corpuz 0, Wong 0.
Ginebra 95 - Brownlee 34, Pringle 17, Thompson 12, Tenorio 8, Malonzo 7, J.Aguilar 6, Standhardinger 6, Mariano 5, Pessumal 0, Gray 0.
Quarters: 27-32, 51-50, 73-78, 96-95
