Petron Blaze draws first blood against Mixers

Even Petron Blaze coach Gee Abanilla didn’t have the words to explain how his Boosters played so well.
The fancied Boosters scored 41 fourth quarter points Friday and went on to rip fellow powerhouse San Mig Coffee to shreds, 100-84, for first blood in their best-of-seven final series for the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Elijah Millsap scored 14 points, Chris Lutz had 11 and Marcio Lassiter eight in the final 12 minutes, as their combined total of 33 in the fourth quarter was 10 better than what the Mixers were able to churn out in the same period.
“I still don’t know (why we played so well in the fourth),” Abanilla, the rookie coach up against a master in Tim Cone on the other end, said. “I’m surprised also. Maybe we got into a rhythm.
“I think they focused too much on the interior defense and allowed us many outside shots.” Millsap finished with 35 points and the tournament’s third triple double with 10 rebounds and 10 assists, and five other local tossed in 10 points or more in a balanced attack that San Mig didn’t have an answer to.
The versatile, hardworking Millsap, who is disputing the Best Import award with San Mig’s Marqus Blakely, also owns the two previous triple doubles.
Anthony Grundy, also of Petron, was the last man to score a triple double in a title series, also doing it in the first game of the 2011 Governors’ Cup Finals. They eventually beat Talk ‘N Text in the series.
The Mixers, the losing finalists to Rain or Shine last year, actually had a 61-59 lead at the start of the final frame, only to be befuddled by the blitzkrieg that followed shortly thereafter.
Petron dropped seven unanswered points and was never headed the rest of the way, racing to an 85-72 lead with 4:11 remaining when Lassiter finished off a 3-on-2 break with a three-pointer from right quarter court.
“No, not really,” Cone said when asked if playing the interior harder on defense was by design. “They just got going with their three-pointers (in the fourth). We broke down early in the fourth and let them get on a run.” Cone also rued what he thought was the lack of effort from his entire team as a whole, of how they played in the series opener against, hands-down, the best team all tournament long.
“I thought we played a little satisfied tonight – satisfied and happy that we’re in the finals,” Cone said in a dejected tone. “We need to bring our best against this team. We didn’t play well throughout the lineup. We didn’t have total team effort.” Cone was so disappointed at his team that he was the one who asked to end the interview, something, which has never happened before.
Blakely led the Mixers with 23 points and 14 rebounds, Marc Pingris finished with 1`6 and PJ Simon contributed 13.
James Yap, the former two-time MVP who has been struggling offensively all season long, had just eight, making just two field goals in nine tries and 22 minutes on the floor.
“I think we got James out of his rhythm by putting different men on him,” Abanilla said. “But James is a great player. You can just limit him. You can never shut him down.” Meanwhile, Gary David, the former Scoring Champion, will play for Meralco starting next season after Globalport and the Bolts completed a deal yesterday.
AJ Mandani, a rookie point guard, was also in the deal as the Bolts gave away Fil-American sentinels Chris Ross and Chris Timberlake to the Batang Pier together with second round picks for the 2016 and 2017 Drafts.
Incidentally, the Draft this year will be held on Nov. 3 and Barangay Ginebra will get the first pick after Air21, the original owner of the pick, won the lottery last night.
Greg Slaughter, the 7-foot former Ateneo ace, looms as the likely No. 1. San Mig Coffee will pick second.