GAME TODAY
(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
7:30 p.m. – Ginebra vs. TNT
THERE’S still some feeling of anxiousness on the part of Ginebra coach Tim Cone. Can Kings star import Justin Brownlee manage to play through a dislocated right thumb like he did the past two games?
For sure, Brownlee can have all the time to go under the knife and heal from his injury after the sixth match and Ginebra going home with the title.
“We can only hope at this point. I don’t think there’s any doubt he’s going to need surgery when this series is over to help reattach some ligaments to his thumb,” Cone said. “But he’s just going to manage his way through it at this point. Our trainers are working around the clock with him, keeping the swelling down.
“Doing whatever therapy they can do for him, icing, whatever. But the bottom line is he’s just going to have to go through some pain to try to get this championship,” he added.
The Kings eye revenge and glory anew when they tangle with the TNT Tropang Giga tonight in Game 6 of their best-of-7 finals duel for the PBA Commissioner’s Cup crown before an expected overflow crowd at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The game is set at 7:30 p.m., with Ginebra seeking to score a fitting follow-up to a 73-66 decision in the fifth tiff last Sunday—and a haymaker to the mid-season tourney’s race-to-4 title battle.
A deciding Game 7, if necessary, will be played this Friday, March 28, also at the Big Dome.
The Kings will rely on Brownlee, former MVP Scottie Thompson, Jamie Malonzo, Stephen Holt, Maverick Ahanmisi, Troy Rosario, and Japeth Aguilar in their bid to end a four-conference title drought.
Ginebra is also gunning for redemption after losing two Big Dance showdowns to TNT – in the Governors’ Cup in 2023 and late last year.
Doing so will not be a walk in the park against the bloodied but unbowed Tropang Giga, according to Brownlee.
“We will come and try with all our might (to clinch it),” Brownlee said. “TNT is a great team as the past has shown. They beat us two times in the finals, so we know it’s not going to be easy.
“The hardest game, in my opinion and my experience, is the closeout game.”
Fighting monsters mostly from within, TNT will pin its hopes to keep its title dreams alive on reigning best import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Calvin Oftana, Rey Nambatac, Roger Pogoy, Kim Aurin, Glenn Khobuntin, Kelly Williams, and the mercurial JP Erram.
Brownlee’s broken thumb—and the rest of the Kings—can actually lift the title tonight in what can be an added epic chapter to the team’s fabled never-say-die spirit.
