Ganado pa din

Just a little bit more
(Photo credit: interaksyon.com)

Congratulations, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel!

You may not have won the PBA Philippine Cup title, but as far as Coach Tim Cone and the "Cone Era" goes, you guys are still on the right path. One championship, two finals conference appearances in only four conferences. With those two appearances being played minus your cornerstone, 7"0 Greg Slaughter. That says a lot about the team, where it is right now, and where it is headed.

So don't fret. Us "haters" will try our best to milk the whole "kang kong" rib, because once Slaughter comes back and Coach Tim makes a few more adjustments, it might as well be our very last time to make a laughing stock out of you guys.

Give us a break, you already outnumber us non-Ginebra fans a million to one, so anytime we can get a rib in we will.

1st runner-up.

That's not so bad.

Your team played mostly on Sundays. No rhythm whatsoever. You win one Sunday, get six days of rest, and lose the next. Can't string together any victories, not against sound teams who have been playing every other day. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but it was the schedule given you. It was probably (and most likely) made by the PBA to help augment their revenues, because more fans will come on a Ginebra Sunday than a Mahindra-Blackwater Wednesday. Fans would rather spend the two-three hour travel time at night going home instead of taking a detour to whichever coliseum there is, since if they're lucky they can get on an Uber/Grab/ bus that has a working TV/radio with the game on.

So no Slaughter, a Sunday schedule, and guys still waiting for L.A. Tenorio to lead them to victory.

And yet somehow you overcame those gritty bastards collectively known as the Alaska Aces in the Quarterfinals. Not that we hate them, that’s just how we see them playing. They are gritty, they are tenacious, and if you are a Ginebra fan chances are you have grown to be weary of them. Hate them even. Specially that Calvin Abueva guy.

You guys beat them. Twice.

They could claim that they didn’t have Chris Banchero to guard Sol Mercado, who had a breakout series. But hey, you guys didn’t have Slaughter!

And then came the Star Hotshots. You guys were on the brink. Another bad dude, by the name of Paul Lee, had that stank face on 24/7. That relentless old fart, Marc Pingris, was muscling your bigs like they didn’t matter. But somehow, someway, Coach Tim found a way. Tenorio found a way. Ginebra found a way.

Until you met the San Miguel Beermen in the PBA Finals.

They are the defending champs. They are the three-peat seeking champs. They are looking to add that Perpetual Trophy in Don Ramon’s cabinet just for the heck of it.

So now, you’re in a groove. But you’re also spent. Tenorio voiced out how tired he was in the Hotshots series. He said something about “nanginginig sa pagod” even. The little man carried you to the PBA Finals. It’s not his fault he was up against an Energizer bunny that taught itself to shoot straight after spending much of his PBA career putting up bricks.

You had a gameplan versus 3x PBA MVP and newly-minted Best Player of the Conference Junemar Fajardo. But that entailed leaving at least one guy open. You took a chance and left Ross open. Several times.

PBA Finals MVP.

But if not Ross, then who? Alex Cabagnot will kill you, even when he’s not open. Just let him take those off-balanced jumpers of his. Marcio Lassiter? Nope. Not a good idea. Arwind Santos? Okay, you gave him 20+ 3s in Game 2 and he still semi-delivered in the clutch and almost won it for his team.

Nag time out kasi yung Tubid.

Japeth Aguilar tried his best. We all know he's limited. He's special and athletic, but he's not on Fajardo's level. Otherwise, he'd at least have an MVP title to his name. Joe DeVance, the captain, gave it his all. Shots to the foot all. He did all of that, just to help guard Fajardo one on one. It's like you took a pain killer for a headache, only to voluntarily allow someone to hit you in the gut.

Mercado. Scottie Thompson. Kevin Ferrer. They all had their moments, though we wish that Ferrer never engaged Santos because after that exchange and interview, the former PBA MVP played with more focus and precision while Ferrer disappeared in the shadows.

But despite all of that, you forced it to five games. Your team didn't have the firepower, but somehow, you won a game and gave us four other competitive losses.

That's not a sign of a team that's kang kong or headed to Boracay.

That's a sign of a team that's almost there. Just needs a few more pieces.

Just a little more faith, the dynasty is coming.