PBA Commish Cup Semis: No fluke as Aces repeat

The Beast: All heart, all hustle

Just when you thought that the on-going (and highly/somewhat surprisingly entertaining) semifinals saga between the Alaska Aces and San Mig Coffee Mixers couldn't get any more dramatic, last night happened.

In front of over 23,000 strong, the Aces and Mixers put on a defensive clinic with the latter pretty much in control early in the game. The Mixers were bent on distancing themselves from the Aces, showing a level of basketball that only a true Hall of Famer coach like Tim Cone could draw up. Import Denzel Bowles, though still far from his 2012 form, was putting in work, Marc Pingris threw out all the distractions of "dirty play" aside and was a monster and Mark Barroca supplied the firepower missing from quarterfinals breakout star, backup Alex Mallari.

With resident superstars PJ Simon and 2x PBA MVP James Yap nursing injuries and going through shooting slumps, the Mixers still found ways to get it done thanks to their suffocating half court defense that left the Aces reeling and looking a lot like they did back when Joel Banal was at the helm (seems like a lifetime ago doesn't it?).

At the end of the 1st half, the Mixers were up 45-32, and though it was only a 13 point lead, looked like they were well in control of the game leading into the third quarter.

Then The Beast happened.

After getting into a rebounding/ loose ball scuffle with the Mixers near 7"0 import Bowles, Calvin Abueva went on "Wolverine: Berserker" mode and just tore into the paint like a man possessed. There was a nice and-1 play, a 1-on-3 fearless fastbreak and for good measure, a triple just to remind the Mixers fans that hey, Abueva, in the latter part of his NCAA career, learned how to shoot. FYI.

Did you see Abueva flopping after that exchange with Bowles? Nope. He went with what he knew instinctively. Bad mofos do bad mofo things.

The momentum swung to the Aces' side despite the Mixers' brave attempts at holding them off. It was as though there was a giant pendulum hanging in the rafters that was swinging for the Mixers earlier before being bunny-hopped on to by The Beast and the rest of the hard-fighting Aces.

And though we wouldn't call it a fourth quarter collapse, the Mixers looked spent to end the game. The Aces youth and enthusiasm got to them. The physical and psychological warfare employed by the likes of Abueva, Gabby Espinas, Nic Belasco, Sonny Thoss and import Rob Dozier was starting to wear Bowles down. Pingris made a great account of himself on the floor, but the Aces were just coming in droves like a red army ready to go for the kill.

The Aces had a chance to end this one early, with Abueva bringing the ball down and every single player wearing a Mixers uniform ready to crash into him if only to prevent him from making a game winning shot (yung tipong, patirahin mo na lahat ng game winner, wag lang tong mayabang na to).  But Abueva did something somewhat unexpected (to those that haven't seen him play before that is or those who can't tell how far he's gone from his first year with San Sebastian to his final season)-- he threw in a nifty drop pass to guard RJ Jazul for a wide-open lay-up.

Would've been nice had Jazul made the shot, but he was running too fast and thinking of the time a tad too much to make a decent attempt. Of course, he more than atoned for it with his six-point flurry in overtime doing the damage for the Aces after starter JVee Casio (who continues to dumbfound us with his hesitance to shoot at times) fouled out.

Is the series over?

We doubt it.

The Mixers have been through so much to simply roll over and die, they have the talent, experience and savvy to rally around the two losses and come out strong for Game 4. Simon is due for a big game after playing only 20 or so minutes in Game 3. Joe DeVance hasn't been that involved offensively. Yap is fighting. Barroca showed promise with his offensive outburst. Trust that these guys are all due for a big game as a unit to help hold off the Aces and force a winner-take-all Game 5.