Well, the long and short of it was that Ginebra didn’t have it last night. Sure, San Miguel played tough defense, and kept the Gin Kings at bay, but it all came down to Ginebra not having anything last night.

Hey, it happens. A couple of days ago, I talked about Jong Uichico’s major gambit of playing big against San Miguel (with Willie Wilson and Rafi Reavis logging heavy minutes), and it caught up to him in game 6. Like I mentioned, the plan works if David Noel shot well, but Noel had a miserable game, and so did the rest of his team.

I was a little surprised that Cyrus Baguio didn’t see more playing time tonight. It’s been a combination of him playing terribly and Uichico going with the big lineup, meaning Baguio has to platoon with Jayjay Helterbrand and Ronald Tubid at the shooting guard spot. But Baguio’s too good a player – and Uichico’s too good a coach – so I’m expecting him to be in the thick of things in game 7.

I’ve mentioned a few times that San Miguel’s players are a bunch of frontrunners. It kind of is a backhanded compliment, but it’s true: Jonas Villanueva and Mike Cortez are about 10,000 times more likely to hit that big three-pointer when they’re up 12 that when they’re down 8.

So I think that’s going to be the key to game 7. Ginebra needs to have a good start, dictate the tempo and not let San Miguel get any momentum. San Miguel, the naturally deeper squad, needs to break the game open and batter their tired opponents from the get-go. Uichico’s gambling that a couple of his guards (any two among Helterbrand, Tubid, Baguio, Salvacion, Chris Pacana, Paul Artadi, and Chico Lanete) would play well enough to keep them in the game and open the lane up for Noel. My guess is that he’ll go big again to start the game, but he’ll be quick to pull the trigger and go small-ball if the game threatens to go out of hand.

But maybe it’s all moot. Mark Caguioa jinxed his teammates for game 6, and who knows how it’ll affect them for game 7?



Great job by Dennis Principe on the interview by the way. He came just short of asking, “Hey Mark, what do you think of your buddy Helterbrand busting his ass out there playing on one leg, while you’ve been out all year rehabbing you sore pussy injured knee?”