Ginebra Wins a Unique Championship in a Unique Situation

Ginebra ended a 13-year dry spell in the Philippine Cup. LA Tenorio won his first-ever all Filipino championship plus another Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. Tim Cone overtook Robert Jaworski for most championships as a Ginebra coach and now has 23 championships under his decorated resume.

Those are just some of the things that made this championship run by Ginebra special. One can even claim that this championship victory is one for the books due to the uniqueness of the situation.

The 2020 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup bubble in Clark has finally come to a triumphant climax as the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings clinched the franchise's 13th PBA championship and the team's first all-Filipino championship since the 2006-2007 season. But it wasn't an easy journey not just for the Gin Kings but also for the PBA as a whole.

Even the winningest coach in the history of the PBA admitted that he asked himself prior to the bubble, "Can we even make the playoffs?"  

Ginebra didn't have a healthy line-up throughout the lone conference for 2020. They didn't even have Greg Slaughter to partner Japeth Aguilar down low. Aguilar wasn't even himself at the start. And LA Tenorio was coming off an injury and an appendectomy prior to entering the Clark bubble. Despite all of that, Ginebra looked like the team everyone didn't expect them to be: the top contender in the bubble conference.

Ginebra opened the PBA restart with a four-game winning streak before losing the Bubble Clasico against the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok. Since then, they went 4-2 to finish the elimination round as the top-seeded team with an 8-3 slate despite the grueling finish to the elimination round that was brought about by the temporary stoppage of games midway in the conference. 

The Gin Kings then advanced to the semifinals after beating the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the quarterfinals. The semifinals against the Meralco Bolts was a slugfest that went the distance at Ginebra survived a Meralco team that pushed the series to a Game Five before the Gin Kings barely escaped with an 83-80 victory in the series clincher. 

The last dance of the 2020 Philippine Cup was a different story for the Gin Kings as they were pitted against a heavily-loaded team: the TNT Tropang Giga. However, the tide switched sides when Ray Parks got hurt in Game One and went on to miss the rest of the series. Ginebra went 2-0 to open the series before TNT appeared to have awakened as TNT took an 88-67 win in Game Three. But, that was it for the Tropang Giga. Game Four saw Jayson Castro getting hurt and despite a 34-point explosion from RR Pogoy, it was Ginebra who came out victorious last Sunday. In the title-clinching Game Five last Wednesday, TNT  was able to stay within striking distance but couldn't contain Japeth Aguilar who finished with 32 points. Stanley Pringle was limited to just 13 points but that's the beauty of having a deep roster such as that of the Gin Kings.

In the end, LA Tenorio's stable hands led the Gin Kings to the all-Filipino championship and that's another this run unique. LA Tenorio has been hurt multiple times and yet, he hasn't missed a single game in his PBA career.

Perhaps, the biggest reason why this Ginebra championship run will be unforgettable is this: they did it without the presence of their sixth men: the fans watching inside the venue. 

Photo is from ESPN