Why Manila Classico SHOULD go the distance

Where's Japeth?

Sports-entertainment related conspiracy theories aside, one cannot deny that the on-going semifinals slugfest between sister teams Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and San Mig Coffee Mixers is worth its lofty box-office hype billing.

After all, on one side you have a "reborn" franchise, looking to re-establish itself among the upper echelon of Philippine basketball teams and on the other, an already proud yet "under the radar" dynasty thanks to the unwritten pecking order in their own corporate umbrella. While Petron Blaze/ San Miguel and Ginebra have long been established as Team San Miguel, the "glamor boys" of the PBA are lost in the mix despite just being a few titles short of Petron Blaze/ San Miguel's (Ginebra doesn't even belong in that "who's got more rings" discussion among the sisters).

In Game One, we saw the Mixers lording it over a hapless Ginebra squad which were probably tired from their quarterfinals match-up with the Alaska Aces. The Mixers, thanks to their veteran line-up bannered by 2x PBA MVP James Yap, PJ Simon and Marc Pingris not to mention Hall of Fame coach Tim Cone, simply out-smarted the young yet green Ginebra.

The next game, Ginebra came roaring back and administered an impressive zone defense that neutralised the Mixers' inside forays while also forcing their misfiring shooters to try and salvage the game from the outside. You see, with the way Ginebra's anchored on their twin towers of 6"9 Japeth Aguilar and 7"0 Greg Slaughter, you'll have to at least make 40% of your shots just to keep Ginebra from simply playing zone and clogging the paint-- which prevents you from getting rebounds or making all the hustle plays.

This evening, the Mixers not only rebounded from their Game 2 ass-whooping, but did so in a nip and tuck affair that could've gone either way. In the end, it was the clutch plays of Simon and rising star point guard Mark Barroca to go along with Pingris' all-around defense that did Ginebra in.

The Mixers need only two more wins while Ginebra needs three, we've yet to see Aguilar rise to the semifinals stage as he did versus the Aces and the entire elimination phase of the PBA Philippine Cup. He's clearly been shackled/ bothered by the Mixers' frontline who pretty much know how to play against a tall, face-up scorer (they have a guy named Joe DeVance who is pretty much a wider, slower, better-skilled, grounded version of what Aguilar hopes to be *re: NBA small forward*) who has a high dribble and limited back-to-the-basket moves (we're not saying that Aguilar should try and play like a center, but if he could face-up, turn around a bit to post-up just to protect the ball then face-up again when he's in shooting position, then that would do him good in games).

Tenorio and Barroca, the lead point guards of their respective teams have cancelled each other out. Ginebra's frontline vs the Mixers' backcourt is more or less cancelling each other out. What has separated the teams really is the wing position. Games 1 and 3 were won by the Mixers because of guys like Simon, Melton, DeVance and maybe Yap. Game 2 was won because there was ample support coming from the likes of Mac Baracael for Ginebra.

And really, just watching Marc Pingris on the floor giving it his all and just guarding guys who are either too fast or too tall for him and not giving up, that's just great Pinoy basketball.

Let's go seven.