Petron eyes commanding series lead
Game today:
Mall of Asia Arena
8 p.m.- Petron vs. San Mig Coffe
An offensive onslaught powered the Petron Blaze Boosters to a resounding victory in Game Three. A good follow-up to that 22-point rout may just give the Boosters full control as they play the San Mig Coffee Mixers in Game Four of the 38th PBA Governors’ Cup best-of-seven Finals tonight at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“We made couples of adjustments after our Game Two loss, and we’re very happy with the way the team responded,” Petron coach Gee Abanilla said in a pba.ph report moments after their 90-68 bashing of San Mig that gave them a 2-1 series lead.
The Boosters had an easy outing despite missing the services of starting pointguard Alex Cabagnot, who is out with plantar fasciitis.
Playing pointguard for most of the game was Petron import Elijah Millsap, who converted seven triples en route to finishing a game-high 28 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals against four turnovers.
The Boosters were in control most of the way. In fact, Millsap played for just 34 minutes and didn’t even play in the final period.
“They were great in this game and we’re not,” lamented San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone.
Cone said his wards are ready to bounce back from that ugly loss.
“Everything went wrong for us but we accept that and we’re ready to move on,” Cone added. “It’s a seven-game series and a three-point loss is the same as a 22-point blowout. We win by one the next game and we will forget this game.”
Also stepping up big in Cabagnot’s absence were Denok Miranda and Paolo Hubalde, who combined for 15 points, three assists and two rebounds.
“Cabagnot is day-to-day but we’re hoping he could come back the soonest possible time,” Abanilla said of their chief point guard who went down with a right foot injury towards the end of Game Two.
“He’s playing a tremendous conference. He’s one of the major reasons why we’re here,” Abanilla added. “Good thing, we’re ready for things like this. Millsap at the point, we tinkered on that in the off-season.”
Preceding the crucial Game Four is the Annual Awards where individual accolades will be given to the season’s top performing players.
Contesting the most-coveted Most Valuable Player award are Talk ‘N Text’s Jayson Castro, Petron’s Arwind Santos and Barangay Ginebra’s LA Tenorio. The Rookie of the Year award is a toss-up between Alaska’s Calvin Abueva and Petron’s June Mar Fajardo
