Ginebra: Still Never Say Die?

Congratulations to the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings for salvaging a win in last night's "sibling rivalry" main event against the Petron Blaze Boosters, 84-82. Winning behind a last second shot by star Jayjay Helterbrand over the outstretched arms of PBB import Nick Fazekas, fans raved about the Gin Kings' mighty victory over a worthy opponent.

Underdog pa din ba? 

Our argument here is, why are Gin Kings fan still riding the "Never say die" train when it's pretty clear that their squad has been out of the "underdog" tag since building their Helterbrand-Mark Caguioa-Eric Menk core the last few years?


The game itself wasn't even "never say die-ish" (Ginebra fan in the late 90s so yes, we know what we're talking about), with Ginebra clearly just head and shoulders more dominant. Seven foot import Chris Alexander was downright beastly, finishing with 21 points and 24 rebounds and returning veteran Rudy Hatfield and new recruit Kerby Raymundo were pretty much owning the paint. Hell, the rebound advantage says it all: 67-42.

What brought PBB back into the game was Fazekas who finished with a staggering 37 and 18 statline to trump his coutnerpart, but failed to get the needed support from Alex Cabagnot (8 points in 2/10 shooting) and Arwind Santos (8 points and 11 rebounds that he had to really work for). Santos was really being challenged in this one, as Raymundo was being aggressive in the post and his sub, Hatfield, was back to his normal ways just muscling in for boards.

Now the question is here, how can a team so dominant not only on paper but on the hardcourt still be called underdogs when it was clear the whole evening that it was PBB doing a lot of the catching up and underdog-ing?

We're not hating on the Gin Kings, who is our pick to be in the Commissioner's Cup Finals by tourney's end to face the Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters, but sometimes fans (and even professional sports commentators) have trouble facing facts. If you want a modern day, "never say die" squad, that title rightfully belongs to Powerade.