Here are the live scores, updates, and results of the 2021 PBA Philippine Cup between the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and the Magnolia Hotshots, scheduled on July 25, 2021, at 4:35 PM.
In this Sunday showdown featuring two teams regarded top title candidates for the conference, defending champion Ginebra Gin Kings crosses paths with Manila Classico rival Magnolia.
The Hotshots have won their first two games, including a thrilling victory over the Alaska Aces last time out as Magnolia pierced the Alaska Aces’ hearts with a stinging dagger as Ian Sangalang made a buzzer-beating layup for the 84-82 victory.
The 6-foot-7 guard towered over the Aces’ opponents, scoring 26 points on 11-of-20 shooting, while Paul Lee chipped in with 16 points and two assists.
Meanwhile, Ginebra got off to a shaky start, losing 94-75 to the NLEX Road Warriors before bouncing back with a 96-81 victory over a tenacious Blackwater squad on Friday.
LA Tenorio and Stanley Pringle led Barangay Ginebra down the stretch, holding off a frantic Blackwater comeback.
Pringle had 19 points on 8-for-15 shooting, six rebounds, six assists, and a steal for the defending champions, who rebounded from a 19-point setback to NLEX in their conference opener. Tenorio had 17 points and seven assists for the defending champions.
In the final 12 minutes, the duo combined for 16 of Ginebra’s 27 fourth-quarter points and four of the team’s five assists.
“We’re no stranger to slow starts. We start slow, we don’t panic. We know we’re gonna pick it up and we feel we’ll be there at the end when it counts,” said Cone.
“We’re just the kind of team that just believes we’re going to get better as the conference goes along. We don’t really have too much panic this early in the conference,” added Cone.
“(But) we know we have a really tough opponent coming in against Magnolia on Sunday. We’ll have minimal preparation time for them. They’re obviously one of the top teams in the league, especially with [Calvin] Abueva on that team now and Paul Lee and Ian Sangalang and Mark Barroca and that old group,” he further added.
The last time these two teams faced in the PBA bubble, Magnolia Hotshots came through in the clutch, downing their archrivals, Ginebra, in the process.
The All-Filipino Cup will proceed to the quarterfinals in its customary format, with the top eight teams advancing. Against the eighth and seventh seeds, the top two seeds will have a twice-to-beat advantage. Meanwhile, in a best-of-three series, No. 3 will face No. 6, and No. 4 will face No. 5. Best-of-seven matches will be played in the semifinals and finals.
Unlike last season’s setup, the league will have a closed-circuit system for the Philippine Cup this time, with teams, league employees, and the media encouraged to keep a venue-home pattern to limit COVID-19 exposure.
The games will be held four times a week. The conference is also scheduled to go through the end of October.