PBA CC Playoffs: 4 Ginebra vs 5 Rain or Shine

RISE
(Photo credit: PBA.inquirer.net)

This is going to be a slobber-knocker.

Rain or Shine, Yeng Guiao, Beau Belga-- they are all ghosts of Ginebra's colorful past. Their physical, bully-ball style, the psy-war that almost, always unnerves Ginebra's towering futures Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar, the way RoS just doesn't really give a rat's ass on how dirty you think they are playing, for as long as they get the victory.

That is how Ginebra basketball was played during Robert Jaworski, Sr.'s reign. That was how Pinoy basketball was played by all back in the day: down and dirty. Nothing fancy, just ugly and brutal.

"Kung ayaw mo masaktan, mag chess ka na lang."

We bring this up because, we believe that this is going to be the approach taken by RoS once the bell rings in their playoffs match-up. Because Ginebra is slowly starting to evolve into the high-post, triangle-playing half court team that Coach Tim Cone envisioned when he took over this pre-season while RoS continues to cover the holes on their offense (and defense) by simply manning up.

Ginebra's been making waves this conference thanks to Othyus Jeffers (42m/23p/16r/5), Greg Slaughter (34/19/10/1), Japeth Aguilar (28/12/6/2), L.A. Tenorio (29/11/3/5), Joe deVance (23/8/3/2) and Sol Mercado (22/7/3/2) with veteran PBA MVP Mark Caguioa and young Scottie Thompson providing able support. On the other side, RoS has survived despite the revolving door of imports thanks to Jericho Cruz (24/13/3/3), JayR Quinahan (23/14/5/2), Maverick Ahanmisi (21/9/4/3) and whichever of the "Gilastopainters" would feel like pitching in on game night: Gabe Norwood (23/7/4/3), Jeff Chan (23/13/3/2) and Beau Belga (18/5/5/2).

The mere fact that RoS managed to salvage 5th seed should be celebrated.

So back to how we expect this match-up to go: Ginebra will execute, and basically tall-ball their way and score at will versus the hapless RoS side. Belga and Quinahan are big, but they are not 7"0 big. New import Pierre Niles is a beefy 6"8 forward, but his debut game was less than impressive and provided RoS fans with nothing to really be happy about (other than the Exxxtra Rice jabs).

Once RoS understands that Ginebra has matured somewhat on the court, then their best resort is to play physical. Bruising. Get up close and personal with everyone. Jeffers appears like he can take a hit, but we know the history with Aguilar, Slaughter and now little-used (but extra efficient in limited doses) Chris Ellis. One body-check here, a few Belga taunts there, could very well bring RoS back in the game.

To win, Ginebra needs to only stay the course and execute. Man-for-man, RoS will not have an answer for Jeffers, Slaughter might run into some trouble by being unable to back down Niles, but then there is DeVance. Who will check that guy if Coach Tim goes three big with Jeffers at 2? Game over. Checkmate right there.

Tenorio Jeffers DeVance Aguilar Slaughter would crush RoS' best five at the moment, which is really Tiu Ahanmisi Cruz Quinahan Niles (by default, import).

Unless of course, Paul Lee's been playing us for 1 1/2 conferences now, and decides to show up and put his Ginebra Killer cape and cowl back on.

Prediction: Ginebra