Pinoy Cup Finals Preview? Ginebra wins dogfight over Rain or Shine

That. Was. Intense.

Ginebra won 98-94 over RoS.
E pano kung naglaro tong 2 to?

So intense that we had to give it a day to sink in and just look at the ramifications of it all. Here are the Rain or Shine Elastopainters, fresh off a title romp and an utter and complete domination of season favorites Petron Blaze Boosters, looking to add another souped up team to its "hit list" (and we use that term very loosely).

Then there's the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel squad, brimming with athleticism, superstar/ household names and a fanbase-count that would make PNoy's 2010 voters blush with envy. The game was rugged, physical but highly entertaining. It was eerily reminiscent to the early days of reigning PBA MVP Mark Caguioa's Barangay Ginebra and current RoS' head coach Yeng Guiao's old spit-firish Batang Red Bull Thunder team.

The game was close early, with a dozen or more lead changes and both teams throwing and exchanging jabs and hooks. While end-game reports say that Ginebra won the game decisively and had ample firepower, it should be noted that RoS is without its starting point guard and reigning Rookie of the Year Paul Lee and another promising rookie combo guard in Chris Tiu. Ginebra was supposed to win this one and they did.

Digging even deeper, it should be noted that while RoS simply found guys to score with guys coming in ready to contribute, Ginebra had a tough time playing as they did before. L.A. Tenorio finished with 20 points, but you could argue that with a team this good, he should be scoring only below the 12-14 points and pushing his teammates to do more. Highly-touted rookies Chris Ellis and Keith Jensen finished with 2 points a piece, a farcry from their opening day debut and were clearly taken out of their element by RoS' "grounded" Extra Rice, Inc. and KKS' Kargador Corps (Ronnie Matias, Larry Rodriguez and Jervy Cruz).

Caguioa finished with his customary 22 points to topscore for his team, but it was shadowed by RoS' marksman Jeffrei Chan who finished with 25. You'd think that with the avalanche of perimeter athletes Ginebra has in the fold, they'd be able to have at least one of those stallions to take on Chan full time and keep him under wraps.

The semi-controversial call on Gabe Norwood versus L.A. Tenorio that helped seal the game is just one of those "breaks of the game" moments that could've gone either way. Was surprised by it-- given the level of physicality the league allows nowadays, but a foul is a foul.

If these two teams were to meet again, say in the Pinoy Cup Finals, that would be a slam-bang affair that would prove to be the equivalent of a John Cena-CM Punk headliner.