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Bay Area Dragons’ Myles Powell against Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings’ Justin Brownlee in Game 6 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals. – PBA PICTURES
High expectations that the seventh game between Barangay Ginebra and Bay Area for the PBA Commissioner’s Cup crown could be one of the most memorable title deciders in recent memory.
The midseason trophy is not the only thing at stake in Sunday’s finals at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.
DEVICE OF TITLE HAS BEEN PLAYED IN PBA?
This will be the 29th time the PBA champion has gone to Game 7, and the 42nd time in a do-or-die duel. Ten were best-of-five while the other two were best-of-three affairs.
How many times has BARANGAY GINEBRA played game 7?
Ginebra celebrates after defeating Meralco in Game 7 of the 2017 PBA Governors’ Cup Finals at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Ginebra will play Game 7 for the fifth time in big league history. The first was a memorable victory against Shell in the 1991 First Conference on Rudy Distrito’s basket with one second left.
The other Game 7 Barangay experienced came in the 2008 Fiesta Conference when they beat Air21, the 2009 Fiesta Conference with a loss to San Miguel Beer and the 2017 Governor’s Cup that saw Ginebra defeat Meralco before nearly 55,000 fans at the Philippine Arena.
WHICH FOREIGN TEAM WILL WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP?
Bay Area will try to duplicate Nicholas Stoodley’s feat when he became the first international squad to capture the PBA title by conquering the 1980 Invitational. The Jeanmakers, an American roster led by Kenny Tyler and former Royal Tru Orange import Larry Pounds, defeated Toyota in the best-of-three final.
But wasn’t NICHOLAS STOODLEY the only away team to win?
Northern Consolidated was another guest who managed the PBA conference, sweeping Manila Beer in four games for the Reinforced Conference 1985. The team consisted of the national team that eventually took the crown of the Asian Basketball Confederation (now Fiba Asia) with naturalized players Dennis Still and Jeff Moore, Allan Caidic, Samboy Lim and Hector Calma.
WHAT DOES TEAM CONE MEAN IN ENGLISH?
Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone during Game 6 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals. PBA PICTURES
The winningest coach is 9-5 overall when deciding PBA Finals games. He is 7-4 in 7 games dating back to his time with Alaska (1995 Governor’s Cup, 1996 Commissioner’s Cup, 1998 All-Filipino Cup, 2007 Fiesta Conference), B-Meg/San Mig Coffee (2012 Commissioner’s Cup, 2013 Governor’s Cup). ‘ Cup) and Ginebra (2017 Governor’s Cup).
He split two Game 5 when the Alaska team wore a 0-2 deficit and lost to Purefoods and idol Baby Dalupan in the 1990 Third Conference decider before completing the PBA Grand Slam in 2014 when San Mig defeated Rain or Shine in the Governor’s Cup.
Cone also had his only Game 3 in 2003 that saw Alaska defeat Coca-Cola in the Finals of the revived Invitational tournament.
WHAT DOES JUSTIN BROWNLEE MEAN IN ENGLISH?
Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings forward Justin Brownlee during Game 5 of the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals against the Bay Area Dragons at the Mall of Asia Arena. PBA PICTURES
Brownlee was undefeated in his previous five trips to the Finals, including a lone Game 7 comeback win in the 2017 Governor’s Cup against Meralco. A win will tie with another resident import from past Cone: Alaska great Sean Chambers.
How many championships has BRIAN GOORJIAN won?
Bay Area Dragons coach Brian Goorjian. – PBA PICTURES
Goorjian is a six-time champion in the Australian National Basketball League, and he has earned accolades as one of the league’s best coaches.
Victory in the NBL Grand Final came with the Southeast Melbourne Magic (1992 and 1996), three-peat with the Sydney Kings (2003 to 2005) and South Dragons (2009).
How many teams lead 3-2 but lose the title?
Thirteen of the 28 teams that led 3-2 went on to lose the series. The last three happened against San Miguel Beer, namely TNT (Philippine Cup 2022), Magnolia (Philippine Cup 2019) and Alaska (Philippine Cup 2016).
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