BARANGAY Ginebra shoots for a finals seat on Wednesday when it takes on Meralco in Game Six as the PBA 48th Season Philippine Cup returns to the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
The Gin Kings are looking to arrange a finals showdown with sister team San Miguel, but the Bolts are determined to send the series to sudden-death Game Seven at the FPJ Arena in San Jose, Batangas.
Here are some of the keys to Game Six:
STOPPING C-STAN
Meralco must find a way to contain Christian Standhardinger, who exploded in Game Five with 34 points and 10 rebounds. Aside from his paint points, Standhardinger also nailed a couple of huge middle-range jumpers that swelled Ginebra’s lead in the game. If the Ginebra big man dominates again in Game Six, Wednesday could be the end of the series.
LIMIT FOULS
For Standhardinger, it also helped that Meralco’s bigs were saddled with foul troubles. Raymond Almazan and Brandon Bates committed five fouls which limited their effectiveness. Almazan had four points and two rebounds in 22 minutes on the floor. Bates still gathered seven rebounds and two blocks but only saw action for 14 minutes.
FASTBREAKS
In their two wins in the series, the Bolts have been asserting their running game, resulting in several fastbreak opportunities. Meralco had 15 and 17 in Game One and Three respectively, while only averaging 7.7 in the three defeats.
SCOTTIE SHOOTING STRUGGLES
Scottie Thompson’s numbers slightly went down again in Game Five where he had five points on 2-of-10 shooting from the field. He impacted the game in other ways with eight rebounds, but his scoring could be the difference for Ginebra to close the series out.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Raymond Almazan has been off in the semifinal series with averages of 5.8 points and 5.0 rebounds. Meralco sure could use a big game from its big man in Game Six.
Outside Game One where he had 18 points and shot 6-of-8 from the field, Ralph Cu hasn’t produced his usual numbers during the middle of the conference. In the last five games, Cu averaged 4.75 points and shot 6-of-15 from the field. Will we see a Cu explosion in Game Six?
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