PBA Finals: Powerade takes Game 4, Lives to Fight Another Day

Down but definitely not out as Powerade's role players provided good support

         Powerade should say thanks to lady luck as they survived a series of costly miscues in the final four minutes and held on for a dramatic 100-97 win in Game Four against Talk ‘N Text to stay alive in the PBA Philippine Cup finals Friday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.

         The Tigers averted a sweep but the Tropang Texters still lead the series, 3-1, with Game Five on Sunday also at the Big Dome at 6 p.m. 

Gary 'El Granada' David with PBA Commissioner Chito Salud

         

         Gary David was named Best Player of the Conference just before tip-off, beating Petron Blaze’s all-around forward Arwind Santos in a tight race. David bested Santos, the statistical points leader, to become just the third player from the Coca-Cola franchise to win the award after Jeffrey Cariaso (2002 All-Filipino Conference) and Rudy Hatfield (2003 Reinforced Conference). 

       The former Lyceum standout drew strength from the media votes (568 points) and the PBA commissioner’s office (150 points), while getting 411 points from stats and 139 points from players’ votes for a total of 1,268 points. Santos, whose Boosters were beaten by Talk ‘N Text in an epic semifinal series, got 446 points from stats, 380 points from media, 258 points from players and 75 from the PBA office for a total of 1,159 points. 

         Petron southpaw guard Alex Cabagnot finished third in the voting with 569 points, followed by B-MEG’s James Yap (464) and Powerade rookie Marcio Lassiter (454). David, who averaged 25 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.0 steal per game in the tournament, received his plaque prior to Game Four of the finals at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum. With his award, David now becomes a contender for the Most Valuable Player of the 2011-12 season. 

         David, a member of the 2006-07 PBA mythical team, scored at least 30 points in 12 out of his 26 games in the tournament, highlighted by a 42-pont performance against Petron in the eliminations. He had a streak of six straight games with at least 30 points in the playoffs. Through three games in the finals, he is averaging 28.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. David was drafted by Coke in 2003 with the 10th overall pick before he was traded to Air 21 the following season. He returned to the Coke franchise in 2009.

         David tallied a game-high 35 points to lead Powerade, which nearly blew an eight-point lead in the last 4:17 of the contest. Sean Anthony added 19 points and 11 rebounds but committed a mental lapse in the closing seconds as he threw away a possession with 1.4 seconds left, giving Jimmy Alapag one last chance to tie the game.

         “I have to give it to them. We’re just talking about getting one game. Just focusing on one game and not even one game at a time,” said head coach Bo Perasol. “We had a game plan of just being the best on our offensive side, be the best on who we are and doing something more on defense. I think we did that by allowing them to score less than 100.”

        Powerade led at the half, 53-43, for the first time in the series, but the Tropang Texters came alive after the break. They tied the count at 75-all on Castro’s half-court buzzer-beater heave at the end of the third quarter. But Tigers showed composure in the next stage and kept on attacking to erect a 92-82 lead with 6:07 remaining in the game. They were still ahead at 94-86 on David’s basket but went 0-of-5 and committed three crucial turnovers that resulted to a 9-3 swing for Talk ‘N Text. Larry Fonacier’s back-to-back three-pointers tied the game at 97-all with 1:03 remaining. Anthony responded with a clutch jumper for Powerade that ended up being the go-ahead basket. Castro forced a foul on JVee Casio in the ensuing play, but missed two free throws. David was fouled and split his free throws to give Powerade a 100-97 lead with 14.6 seconds left. Castro three-point attempt in the next possession came up short, and Anthony collared the rebound. But he lost control of the leather, giving the defending champs another shot to send the game in overtime.

        “Their bigs outplayed our bigs and that’s the only advantage we have,” said Talk ‘N Text coach Chot Reyes. “Powerade has the best wingmen in the PBA and we have to compensate that with our big men. But tonight we didn’t.” Fonacier led Talk ‘N Text with 20 points. Castro added 18 points and 10 rebounds while Alapag also netted 18 points for the Tropang Texters.

The scores:

POWERADE 100 – David 35, Anthony 19, Lassiter 13, Kramer 11, Adducul 10, Casio 7, Lingganay 3, Vanlandingham 2, Cruz 0, Crisano 0.

TALK N’ TEXT 97 – Fonacier 20, Castro 18, Alapag 18, Carey 11, Reyes 10, Peek 8, Williams 7, De Ocampo 3, Dillinger 2, Aguilar 0, Alvarez 0, Lao 0.

Quarters: 25-23, 53-43, 75-75, 100-97