Tired Giants, refreshed Aces begin title series

source: Waylon Galvez | mb.com.ph

Despite having only two days of rest, Purefoods TJ Hotdogs head coach Ryan Gregorio believes fatigue won’t be a factor when his Giants battle the Alaska Aces at the start of the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven title series this Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum.

“Entering the Finals, we’re the team with the most number of games played,” said Gregorio, whose team already played a total of 29 games – 18 in the classification phase, five in the quarterfinals and six in the Final Four.

“It might be a factor (fatigue), but in the Finals, the will to win of my players will be bigger than our weary legs,” Gregorio said.

Clashing for only the seventh time – third in an all-Filipino conference and first since the Governors’ Cup seven years ago – the Giants and the Aces meet at 7:30 p.m.

The two teams split their first six Finals matches, and both are gearing for a title win after each lost in a separate seven-game battle the last time they played in the championship. Purefoods lost to Sta. Lucia Realty in 2008 and Alaska against Talk ‘N Text last season.

They also split their head-to-head encounter this conference, with Alaska winning first, 101-87, last November 22, before Purefoods bounced back with a 94-77 victory last January 15.

Alaska earned its 24th stint in the Finals and eighth in the AFC by sweeping Barangay Ginebra, 4-0, in their semifinals series.

Purefoods, on the other hand, will be making its 21st championship appearance and 13th in the all-Filipino as it came back from a 1-2 deficit in its Final Four showdown with San Miguel Beer by winning the next three games capped by an 87-78 win in Game 6 last Sunday.

Games Wednesday (Araneta Coliseum)
5 p.m. — Ginebra vs San Miguel
7:30 p.m. — Alaska vs Purefoods