PBA Governor's Cup Game 7: It's winning time!

It's going to be a war out there tonight, and I will stick to my original prediction that Talk 'n' Text will rise to the occasion as a team and come out with their third straight title and be recognized as the league's only 3rd Grand Slam franchise.

If Game 6 were any indication, it clearly showed the disparity in talent between both teams. Petron has managed to survive through vintage performance Danny Ildefonso, the super human efforts of Arwind Santos and the resurrection of Denok Miranda's playing career as a high-caliber point guard. On the other hand, TNT, whenever it had its best pieces on the floor, continues to be just downright unstoppable.

Will Petron take advantage of TNT's many injuries? They should, since Jayson Castro and Ryan Reyes are both playing at 60%. If anything, Petron needs to put Arwind Santos on Castro and someone rough like Sunday Salvacion and Ray Guevarra on Reyes to make TNT's injured prized guards work harder on both ends of the court.

TNT only needs to push the tempo and attack the rim at a hellish, bull-headed pace. Petron doesn't have the defensive frontline that has made it a force in the early years, having to rely on an aging Ildefonso whose best back-up is equally aging and more slow-footed Mick Pennisi. If someone can wake Jimmy Alapag from his slumber and convince him to drive more by giving him more screens from the outside, then he could finally shut some people up and show his MVP form if only for a game.

Keep an eye on Alapag, Castro, Reyes and Harvey Carey tonight as I believe those four will come in and give Petron hell.

At Petron's end, I hope to see another 20-14 performance from Santos, and wouldn't mind if Danny Ildefonso gets a dunk in there and "raises the roof" off the SMART Araneta Coliseum.

Still, I pick TNT to win it all and would be surprised if they don't.