By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel put up another majestic treat for the thousands of Filipino fans in attendance after a showcase of another ‘Never Say Die’ classic to clinch an 89-92 come-from-behind win over the Bay Area Dragons in Game 3 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals last January 4, 2023.
Down by as much as 14 points heading into the final canto, the Tim Cone-led squad fought with their all despite a horrible shooting night from the field.
The quartet of Jamie Malonzo, Scottie Thompson, Justin Brownlee, and LA Tenorio spearheaded Ginebra’s stunning comeback in the last five minutes of the game.
Down by seven points with 3:55 remaining in the game, Brownlee kicked off Ginebra’s fiery offensive rally after a leaning jump shot.
Seconds after trimming Bay Area’s lead to just five points, Brownlee attacked the basket to draw two defenders and kicked out the ball to a wide-open Tenorio for a cold-blooded three-point basket that got them to just two points, 79-77.
The Ginebra scoring snowball didn’t end as their resident super import deadlocked the ball game at 79-all after burying a tough fade-away jump shot from the left elbow.
Bay Area failed to convert their looks on the other end which gave Ginebra the golden chance to capitalize and take the lead. As Malonzo lost control of the leather, both squads figured in a sequence of broken plays in the battle of the loose ball but a flying Thompson cleaned up their attempt and soared high for the put-back layup over Andrew Nicholson.
The athletic deuce scored by Thompson then gave Ginebra an 81-79 lead with only 1:26 remaining in the nip-and-tuck affair.
As Bay Area missed another chance to equalize or take the lead, Ginebra sent in the early exclamation point after Malonzo sank the clutch hail mary trey that extended their lead to five points, 84-79.
The duo of Tenorio and Brownlee then iced the game after sweeping all of their shots at the charity stripe during the last 30 seconds of the game when Bay Area decided to use their fouls.
“We said nothing is working today, nothing is working for us today. We’re not hitting shots, we’re making a lot of defensive mistakes. But we just gotta keep working. We’re just looking for a spark. Justin upped his motor and Scottie went crazy and got a couple of unbelievable rebounds and we got on a roll. The crowd kept feeding us and feeding us,” said Cone after the game.
