Sports
Ginebra, Bay Area look to finish foes

BARANGAY Ginebra and Bay Area look to finish off their respective foes as the 2022-23 PBA Commissioner's Cup best-of-five semifinals shift to the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City today, December 21.The Gin Kings moved at the cusp of the Finals after scoring a masterful 103-80 demolition of the Paul Lee-less Magnolia Hotshots Sunday night to grab a 2-1 series lead.On the other hand, the Dragons saw their series lead cut to 2-1 after succumbing to the Beermen on Sunday, 98-96, behind SMB guard Simon Enciso's game-winning triple in the dying seconds of the game.A win by both Ginebra and Bay Area today will vault both squads to the best-of-seven championship series.Ginebra coach Tim Cone admitted the hardest thing to do for any team during the playoffs is to close out a series, especially against Magnolia that remains to be a dangerous foe, with or without Lee.'We're a veteran team. Justin (Brownlee) knows that. We have to come out to get the next win and be better next game,' Cone said, heading to their 3 p.m. Game 4 affair.'We don't want to go to a Game 5 because too many things can happen in a Game 5, so we'll see what we can do with Game 4.'Lee, Magnolia's Game 2 hero, lasted just over two minutes in the opening quarter after feeling under the weather. His sudden absence reflected heavily on Magnolia's game as Ginebra took a 15-point lead at the half, carrying that momentum through the second half en route to the one-sided victory.But even if the 'Lee-thal Weapon' gets the green-light to play, Cone said they intend to go all out in winning Game 4 and close out the series.'Obviously, we want to go out there and put all our eggs in one basket and go after Game 4 if we can,' Cone stressed. 'And it's hard. We won the first game, they won the second and we won the third, but normally in the fourth, it's something we have to overcome.'Magnolia, though, remains a solid bunch with Serbian import Nick Rakocevic expected to bounce back from an anemic 10 points and 12 rebounds output in Game 3.Veterans Mark Barroca, Jio Jalalon, Calvin Abueva and Ian Sangalang will also need to step up big time as they try to push the series to a rubber match with a win in Game 4.Meanwhile, Bay Area remains a formidable foe to contend with even after the heartbreaking loss on Sunday. Still up 2-1 in the series, the Dragons wouldn't want to give the Beermen a chance to resurrect their lethal game as Bay Area looks to finish off the league's winningest ball club with a win in their 5:45 p.m. match.San Miguel coach Leo Austria admitted that Bay Area's Canadian import Andrew Nicholson has been a thorn on the Beermen's side because of his offense inside the paint and from beyond the arc, as well as his strong rebounding and defensive skillset.Add to that, the solid contributions of Kobey Lam, the Game 1 hero in Bay Area's 103-102 win, Glen Yang, Hayden Blankley, Mingxin Ju and Songwei Zhu have given San Miguel huge problems.'As long as we play hard both offensively and defensively, and then defined ang roles ng mga players and we have a game plan, we have a good chance at beating them. But it's a lot of hard work,' shared SMB coach Leo Austria.

GOING ALL OUTStanley Pringle (11) will try to lead his Barangay Ginebra team to victory over Magnolia in Game 4 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals today, Dec. 21, 2022, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. The Gin Kings lead the best-of-five series at 2-1. PBA IMAGE