THE PHILSPORTS Arena will host the PBA Finals for the first time in nine years when Game 3 of the Commissioner’s Cup championship series between Barangay Ginebra and TNT is played on Wednesday in the Pasig venue.
The Gin Kings and the Tropang Giga square off with the best-of-seven series tied at 1-1 after two games played at the Mall of Asia Arena.
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The last time the Philippine Sports Commission-controlled venue hosted a PBA Finals was last January 24, 2016 when San Miguel defeated Alaska in overtime, 110-104, in Game 4 of the Philippine Cup title series.
It was the first of four wins that enabled SMB to overhaul a 0-3 finals deficit which the Beermen capped with a 96-89 Game 7 win before 23,616 fans at the Smart Araneta Coliseum - a historic comeback that came to be known as the ‘Beeracle’.
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Wednesday’s match-up could attract a big crowd after what transpired in Game 2 where Barangay Ginebra defeated TNT, 71-70, with Justin Brownlee serving as the hero of the match-up by finishing with 35 points including the game's final four markers.
So far, the finals series has seen welcome highs in crowd attendance this conference with 11,802 watching Game 1 and 12,925 attending Game 2.
“I hope they’re hanging from the rafters,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone, referring to the fans for Game 3. “I really do. I hope they can find a seat or a standing room only, whatever. I’m excited that people are excited to watch the series. This is what we play for. And we play for them.”
“If there’s going to be another 50,000 outside wanting to get in, I’ll be happy about that too. But we’ll do what we can with Philsports and then, Antipolo afterwards," he added. "But it doesn’t matter what venue we’ve got to play in. It’s still a championship game. And we have to bring it."
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