A Preview of the Ginebra-Meralco Semifinal Series

The Meralco Bolts have done something that nobody in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA)  has done in the Philippine Cup in the past five seasons: dethrone the San Miguel Beermen. And they did it despite the Beermen's twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.

After their 90-68 win over San Miguel on Sunday, the Bolts have two days to prepare for their semifinal series against the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings. This will be a new chapter in the brewing rivalry between the Gin Kings and the Bolts who have met in the Governors' Cup finals in three of the last four seasons. This time around though, Ginebra doesn't have Justin Brownlee while the Bolts don't have Allen Durham. 

Ginebra finished the elimination of the Philippine Cup bubble in Clark as the top-seeded team with an 8-3 slate. In the quarterfinals, the Gin Kings didn't have to use their twice-to-beat advantage as Japeth Aguilar led the way with 23 points and 11 rebounds en route to their 81-73 win over the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters on Friday. Meanwhile, Meralco had to through traffic in the midfield as they were one of the five teams that finished with a 7-4 slate but ended up as the fifth seed due to the quotient system. Facing a still-loaded Beermen side in the quarterfinals didn't stop the Bolts from surging into the semifinals as they beat San Miguel in two consecutive win-or-go-home games. 

Looking back at their October 18 encounter against Meralco, Ginerba led as much as 24 points before holding on for a 105-95 win. The biggest difference in that game was the bench production of the Gin Kings that produced 54 points- 20 points from Aguilar and 12 points from Jeff Chan. It also didn't help Meralco that Chris Newsome only scored 10 points in 32 minutes. And that's precisely what makes the Bolts unpredictable: they don't rely on Newsome alone. Newsome only had nine points on Sunday against San Miguel but four other Meralco players scored 11 points or more led by Baser Amer and Cliff Hodge who scored 14 points each. 

Heading into Game One of the best-of-five series, fatigue will play a major factor in determining who will win the series.  Many thought that Ginebra isn't 100% healthy yet and that, they haven't peaked. And yet, they already look like a team who will give everything they got against Meralco with Stanley Pringle, Scottie Thompson, and Japeth Aguilar leading the way. However, having a young core will be a plus point for Coach Norman Black as he will have young players who could endure the drag race to the PBA Finals. 

Experience versus youth. That is the important match-up we need to remember in this semifinal series. 

Photo is from PBA