The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Gin Kings is scheduled for a head-to-head game against the TNT Tropang Giga at 6:00 PM on December 9, 2020, live from the AUF Sports Arena and Cultural Center in Angeles City, Pampanga.
From the 2-point line and beyond the arc, Barangay Ginebra bounced back strong in Game 4, from a 67-88 meltdown in their Game 3 titular duel against the Tropang Giga, to capture a 3-1 lead in their race-to-four titular series.
Denying TNT’s bid of equalizing the playing field at 2-2, veteran player Japeth Aguilar put on a show and dunk several times and tallied 22 markers, while others chipped in points as they successfully shoot treys one after the other.
Veteran guard LA Tenorio, the lone player who played stellarly in their Game 3 defeat, also chipped in 22 points in their Game 4 victory, including the back-to-back triples he did to close out the match. All in all, Tenorio fired four three-pointers and finished with six assists, three steals, and two rebounds.
“He (Tenorio) was really calm under pressure. RR Pogoy was making incredible shots, and they’re getting pumped up. It’s hard to respond, but that’s what LA did,” said Cone.
“He came down and made two huge responses for us from the three-point line, and that kind of took the sails right out of Talk ‘N Text because they were all getting pumped up. I’ve used this word a lot lately, but he has no fear. He is going to take that shot. He has been taking that shot for his whole career,” added Cone.
“A three-point shot over there, then he came back and hit a three-point shot back at (Pogoy). Three-point shot over there and came back and hit another three-point shot back at (Pogoy). That was cold-blooded, really cold-blooded,” Cone further stressed.
For their part, Stanley Pringle and Scottie Thompson contributed 16, and 11 points apiece, with the latter had a near triple-double as he also came through with 11 rebounds and nine assists.
With 3 wins under their name and the obvious exemplary performance of his players, Cone said capturing the season-ending fourth win won’t be easy.
“TNT is going to come outline wounded tigers. It’s an organization with a lot of pride, so closing out this series will be incredibly difficult. We know that. We’ll need to earn it. They certainly won’t give us anything,” said Cone.
For his part, TNT head coach Bong Ravena said in an interview that his squad would come out fighting with all their might, with or without high-scoring Bobby Ray Parks Jr. and veteran player Jayson Castro who were both ruled out due to injuries they sustained in the PBA bubble finals.
“Hindi pa naman tapos ang lahat. They still need to win one game (to capture the title). Basta kami, we’ll just try and try to win Game Five,” said Ravena.
The last time out, Roger Pogoy, who, according to Tenorio, is “playing on above level,” step up and anchored once again the Parks-and-Castro-less-TNT with a game-high 34 points.
Barangay Ginebra goes for the kill when it meets TNT in Game 5 tonight, while the latter, despite playing at a disadvantage with two of its key players ruled out due to injuries, fights to extend the series to a Game 6 and eventually force the series into a decider Game 7.