With momentum on their side, the B-Meg Llamados try to complete a remarkable comeback when they clash with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in tonight’s Game 7 of the 37th PBA Governors’ Cup finals at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Llamados were almost given up for dead when the Painters built what looked like like an insurmountable 3-1 series lead.
B-Meg, however, didn’t panic, wining Games 5 and 6 to force tonight’s winner-take-all duel.
“It’s basically an all-out war,” B-Meg head coach Tim Cone said moments after their 97-81 win on Friday’s Game 6.
Cone said tying the series after being down 1-3 will mean nothing if they can’t win Game 7.
“True happiness comes from winning it all. Losing 4-3 is just like losing 4-0,” said Cone.
A team as veteran as the Llamados definitely poses a big problem for the Painters, who are looking to win their first title since joining the league in 2006.
B-Meg has been in this situation before. The Llamados won the Commissioner’s Cup crown by surviving the mighty Talk ’N Text Tropang Texters in a championship duel that also went the full route.
B-Meg is looking to become just the second team to come back from a 1-3 deficit and win the title.
Ginebra San Miguel is the only team so far to overhaul 1-3 finals series deficit against Formula Shell in the 1991 First Conference.
B-Meg may have gained ground after tying the series, but Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao remains confident that his team can pull this one off.
“Na-delay lang uli pero amin pa rin ‘to,” Guiao told pba.ph after their 16-point Game 6 loss.
“The advantage of going up three-one is you can lose two and still make some adjustments,” he said. “And we have to make them in practice.”