FOLLOWING three consecutive defeats in the PBA 49th Season Philippine Cup Finals, TNT’s grand slam bid now hangs in the balance in Game 5 on Wednesday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum, weather-permitting.
Trailing San Miguel, 3-1, in the best-of-seven series following their 105-91 loss last Sunday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, the Tropang 5G need to win three straight games in order to complete the first PBA treble in over a decade.
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If grand slams are rare, comebacks from a 1-3 deficit are just as rare.
According to the research of PBA statistics chief Fidel Mangonon, teams that trail 1-3 heading into Game 5 of a finals won the championship five percent of the time. In short, only two teams have overcame such hole out of the 41 times it had happened.
The first time was the epic comeback by Ginebra against Shell in the 1991 First Conference Finals which Rudy Distrito capped with a running shot from the baseline to clinch 104-102. This despite a Game 4 win by Shell where it defeated Ginebra in overtime, 127-125.
Incidentally, current San Miguel coach Leo Austria was on the losing end of that Finals as he was playing for Shell during that conference. That season was his sixth and final year with Shell, the team that picked him in the first PBA draft in 1985.
Austria, it turned out, was also part of the second time that came back from a 3-1 deficit, and that was in the 2016 PBA Philippine Cup Finals. The Beermen actually trailed, 3-0, to win four straight games and beat Alaska for the championship.
After the Game 4 win last Sunday, Austria warned San Miguel during the postgame press conference to stay focused and not to be complacent.
“With the 3-1 score, it’s not safe,” Austria said.
Now you know where Austria is coming from.
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