Jay R. Gotera
Saudi Gazette
MANILA – The B-Meg Llamados buried the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters with a hail of three-pointers, including seven in the final quarter, to prevail 97-81 Friday, thus forcing a winner-take-all Game 7 in the Finals of the 2012 PBA Governors’ Cup.
James Yap once again spearheaded the B-Meg onslaught, firing 20 points and grabbing nine rebounds in Game 6 as the Llamados won a second straight game against the E-Painters to tie the series at 3-all.
Yap got plenty of support from his teammates with Marqus Blakely tallying 19 points and 15 rebounds and Peter June Simon adding 16 points and eight boards. Jonas Villanueva contributed 11 points.
The Llamados employed a suffocating defense against E-Painters while blanketing them with long-range bombs to post their biggest win against the top seeded team in the conference.
The Llamados held the usually prolific Rain or Shine import Jamelle Cornley to just 14 points and limited the E-Painters to just 18 percent three-point shooting, with sharpshooter Jeff Chan struggling for just 1-of-9 from beyond the arc.
Trailing from the start, Rain or Shine came alive at the start of the fourth quarter, cutting B-Meg’s lead to seven, 67-60, with 10:42 left to play.
But the Llamados quickly doused the E-Painters’ rally with triples from Blakely and Simon, sandwiched by a three-pointer from Rain or Shine’s TY Tang, to pad their lead to 10, 73-63.
After Beau Belga scored from underneath the basket, the Llamados uncorked an 11-0 blast, including two triples from Villanueva and Simon to knock out the E-Painters.
The Llamados were not done yet with their three-point bombs as Yap buried two more triples to annihilate the E-Painters in the homestretch.
Tang finished with 13 points for the E-Painters while Gabe Norwood chipped in with 12.
His team’s second straight defeat humbled Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao who declared last Wednesday that the PBA championship could no longer be taken away from them despite their 91-81Game 5 loss. “There was just a delay, but the championship is ours,” he boasted.
B-Meg coach Tim Cone appeared to have found the formula to negate Rain or Shine’s highly physical plays and their beefy frontliners.
He said the key to his team’s new found optimism is in not focusing too much on winning the PBA crown. “We’ve got back to basics playing to who we are. Focus is no longer on winning the championship but on winning the next game,” Cone said.
Whichever team wins Sunday will make history. The Llamados could become only the second team after Ginebra to win a championship rallying from a 1-3 deficit in a best-of-seven Finals.On the other hand, the E-Painters are eyeing their first PBA championship.
