It's "Win and Go Home" Time for Ginebra

Heading into Wednesday's Game Five of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup Finals, two teams are facing two similar yet different situations. One needs one more win and they can finally go home with the championship. The other needs another win or they will go home with nothing despite the line-up that they have. For the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings, it's the former.

After a huge 98-88 victory in Game Four, the Gin Kings have moved one win away from winning their first all-Filipino championship since the 2006-2007 Philippine Cup. More than ending their drought in the Philippine Cup, a win on Wednesday by the Gin Kings will finally allow them to go home and be with their family in time for the Christmas season. Ginebra and the TNT Tropang Giga are the last two teams standing inside the Clark bubble that started last October 11. Incidentally, both teams played on the first day of the bubble and they are the ones playing until the very end. While many believed that the injuries that hit Jayson Castro and Ray Parks took away what could have been an exciting Finals series, these players have sacrificed a lot for this bubble to happen. 

As Aaron Atayde said on Tuesday's episode of Jump Thru Hoops, "These guys have been in the bubble for two and a months. Stuck in their rooms. Not seeing their families. Missing birthdays. Missing family members. Missing milestones in their lives. They want to go home,"

TNT isn't going away even with two of their best players down with injuries. They still have the pieces to put up a fight against this Ginebra squad. They still have an RR Pogoy who can go supernova at the snap of Bong Ravena's fingers. That's why LA Tenorio thought it would be wise for the Gin Kings to wrap things up in Game Five. "We don't want to give them a chance to win the next game because it's gonna be really hard if they really came back in this series," Tenorio said who finished with 22 points in Game Four including that pair of threes that allowed Ginebra to pull away. 

If there's one closeout game that Ginebra needs to win, it's Game Five on Wednesday. It's more than just about winning a trophy. It's about finally getting to be with their families after two and a half months of grueling schedule inside the Clark bubble. 

Photo is from GMA News