San Mig Coffee crowned PBA Governors’ Cup champ

Some say winning a Game 7 is all about heart and San Mig Coffee was never short of that.
With Marc Pingris laying it all down on the floor and the rest of the Mixers following his lead, San Mig on Friday night pounded out an 87-77 victory over Petron Blaze to win the PBA Governors’ Cup before a throng of more than 21,000 fans at the Araneta Coliseum.
Pingris scored 19 points, had 17 rebounds and five blocks and was the obvious driving force in the Mixers’ swashbuckling finish as San Mig – after a so-so start to the conference – ended up as the king of the hill by beating the tournament’s most talented team on paper.
The 6-foot-5 workhorse wound up with averages of 12.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, three assists and 1.5 blocks in the series and was unanimously voted as the PBA Press Corps Finals MVP.
“He did all the work. I did very little coaching. This team is unbelievable because they worked so hard,” coach Tim Cone, who won a 15th title to equal the all-time mark of his idol, the legendary Baby Dalupan, said.
“They didn’t play perfect basketball, but they played with perfect effort,” Cone added of his players, who started the series as the decided underdogs with a lopsided Game 1 loss dramatizing that tag. “Tonight was a perfect effort game.” Marqus Blakely started out cold but finished with a flurry, also winding up with 19 points and 13 rebounds with Peter June Simon, Mark Barroca and Joe Devance all chipping in twin digits for Cone.
With no team giving a quarter and no one asking for one, the match had all the makings of a classic Game 7.
San Mig only broke away in the waning minutes when the Boosters self-destructed as they paid the price for trying to go solely to either Elijah Millsap or June Mar Fajardo – a ploy that the Mixers and Cone already had a read on after Game 1.
The Boosters also seemed to have been a fagged out lot when the game was on the line as they missed a total of eight free throws in the fourth period. Fajardo accounted for half of those.
Yancy de Ocampo, despite scoring just two points, was a big factor as he bottled up Fajardo every time the Petron rookie touched the ball. He had two crucial feeds in the fourth quarter that helped keep the Boosters at bay.
Millsap did lead the Boosters with 25 points, but he was taken out of the offensive flow in the final four minutes of the fourth. He also sat out a huge chunk of the third period after picking up his fourth foul.
Petron actually opened up a 53-48 lead halfway through the third period before the Mixers responded with a 9-0 spurt for a 57-53 lead they protected the rest of the way.
It was a painful loss for the Boosters, the No. 1 team after the elimination round who encountered little trouble making it to the best-of-seven championship series. Petron won 11 straight games at one point and seemed unbeatable.
“That team is only going to get better,” Cone said of the Boosters, who were aiming to win the 20th title for the franchise.
Fajardo finished with 20 points and 15 rebounds for Petron.
Curiously enough, the season MVP Arwind Santos, was again a non-factor, finishing with just seven points and six rebounds in 39 minutes.
Meanwhile, the next season opens on Nov. 17 with Talk ‘N Text shooting to win the Philippine Cup for an unprecedented fourth straight year.
The Annual Draft actually ushers in the new season on Nov. 3 at the Robinson’s Place in Ermita with either Greg Slaughter of Ateneo or Ian Sangalang looming as the No. 1 choice for crowd-darling Barangay Ginebra.
San Mig Coffee will pick second before Rain or Shine selects third overall. Barako Bull owns the next three selections.