WHAT is one of the most eagerly anticipated PBA Finals in years finally gets underway Sunday before an expected sellout crowd at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo.
It promises to be a blockbuster championship series with titleholder TNT and challenger Barangay Ginebra both raring to come out and take the head start in the race-to-four playoff.
Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. with proceeds from the game to be donated to victims of Typhoon Kristine through the Alagang Kapatid Foundation of TV5. Commissioner Willie Marcial estimated sales at around P1.5 to P2 million.
To many, Game One - and the series - is a toss-up or a tough call made more interesting by the fact that Sunday is the first TNT-Ginebra face-off in the tourney and the first with their champion imports since their championship clash in the same tourney in 2023.
For Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Justin Brownlee, the series is a virtual tiebreaker with RHJ leading TNT to glory in their initial PBA showdown, then JB striking back in powering Gilas Pilipinas versus RHJ and his Jordan team in the 2023 Asian Games gold-medal game in Hangzhou, China.
Sponsored content: But TNT-Ginebra Round II is a lot more than about the two imports.
It's a match made in heaven, pitting celebrated coaches Tim Cone and Chot Reyes and their evenly matched teams both eager and determined to win it all for their proud companies - SMC vs MVP.
"It's a very, very interesting finals for me, for the PBA and for the fans," said TNT governor and PBA chairman Ricky Vargas, himself noting several reasons why this is so.
But in the final analysis, it's about Ginebra chasing championship banner No. 16 and TNT taking a shot at a 10th crown.
The Tropang Giga eye a title repeat with a core group including RR Pogoy, Calvin Oftana, Rey Nambatac, Poy Erram, Jayson Castro, Kelly Williams, Kim Aurin and Glenn Khobuntin.
Sponsored content: The league crowd darlings, meanwhile, will heavily bank on Japeth Aguilar, Scottie Thompson, Stephen Holt, Maverick Ahanmisi and RJ Abarrientos.
The warring teams are slugging it out in a fifth finals overall and they're to break a 2-2 deadlock as Cone and Reyes duke it out in a seventh title dispute, breaking a 3-3 standoff.
"Just very, very happy to be here to play against a tough team, an excellent coach," said Reyes. "I think in the end, magkakatalo how the players execute and the team that's able to exert their own style of play and their will on the basketball court (will prevail)."
"You work so hard to get to this point, now it's almost like a do-or-die," said Cone. "It's going to be really disappointing for us if we don't win this after getting this far. If we do win, we'll be really ecstatic. That's where we are right now. I think our players are ready. I'm sure TNT is so ready it's kind of like (we) can't wait to get it on."
They've got their welcome breather after disposing of San Miguel Beer and Rain or Shine in the Last Four.
Both are expected to be in their Sunday's best as they set out for the kickoff in this exciting Last Dance. (SB)
