PBA Commish Cup Finals: Wala pa ring tatalo sa Alaska

Young Blood Reachin'

It was time.

The Alaska Aces are the 2013 PBA Commissioner's Cup champions thanks to a dominant 3-0 sweep of the injury-riddled Barangay Ginebra San Miguel. They did it through team work. They did it through hard work and perseverance. They did it together.

Credit goes to Ginebra and head coach Alfrancis Chua for their magical run to the Commish Cup Finals after a woeful 7th seed finish at the end of the eliminations. They lost reigning PBA Most Valuable Player Mark Caguioa to a knee injury, had to change import early and fought through all the chemistry woes that have hounded them early this season.

Newly-minted Best Player of the Conference L.A. Tenorio spearheaded Ginebra's attack the whole way. Ginebra responded to their "substitute" leader and gamely fought toe-to-toe with the Aces' youth and vigour. Ginebra was determined to not go out without a fight. They were putting it all out there, they were the more physical team. They were loose and carefree on the court. For the first three quarters, Ginebra played like Ginebra.

Billy Mamaril came in and threw some vicious elbows and set some illegal, daresay criminal, screens. Import Vernon Macklin, clearly hobbled by a hamstring injury, joined in the fun and let Aces' brash rookie Calvin Abueva know who was the king down in the block. Once those two set up shop down low, Ginebra was in full control of the game with Tenorio knocking down shots together with the tried-and-tested duo of also injured Mark Caguioa and "will he retire or won't he" star Jayjay Helterbrand.

Then there was rookie Chris Ellis.

After back-to-back harmless performances, Ellis was bent on helping his team out and putting up points on the board. He was no longer settling for jumpers, he was putting his athleticism and creativity to good use. He was jumping over the Aces' frontline of Sonny Thoss and import Rob Dozier. He was on attack mode. Our only question is, why wasn't he doing this early in the series? Where was the NLEX Road Warriors' Air Force Ellis?

Ginebra put up a stand, they wanted the Aces to know that if they wanted the title via a sweep, they had to take it from Ginebra by force, at all costs.

And that's what the Aces did.

Unleashing a furious 24-2 run to end the game, the Aces brought the wrath of God down on Ginebra by way of JVee Casio who put himself on DLSU God Mode alongside Thoss and Abueva.

While Thoss was doing his thing, manhandling Ginebra's frontline, Casio was burying jumpers from outside. And if those two weren't enough, Abueva was sure to get into the mix by putting in back-breaking and-one plays to keep stretching the lead en route to the title.

Had Caguioa not been injured, how different would the series have been?

Very. Because the Aces wouldn't be able to zero in on Tenorio with guards Cyrus Baguio and Dondon Hontiveros. Josh Urbiztondo wouldn't have been forced to masquerade as a Sunday Salvacion catch-and-shoot guy (he's more apt with heavy ball time and looking for his own shot rather than simply getting it from Tenorio). A lot of "what ifs" really.

Macklin? He was simply outplayed by the Best Import of the Conference Rob Dozier. Simple as that. The injury was big, but not like it could've altered the series as much simply because the Aces have Dozier AND Thoss ready to battle Macklin.

Ultimately, this series came down to a Number One seed taking care of business and dropping a over-achieving Number Seven seed.