Ginebra eyes sweep, finals spot vs NorthPort

BARANGAY Ginebra zeroes in on a sweep and the first berth in the Finals when it faces embattled NorthPort in Game 4 of their PBA Season 49 Commissioner's Cup semifinals series on Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Up with a commanding 3-0 lead, the Gin Kings go for the jugular against the Batang Pier in their 5 p.m. encounter.

In the second game, Rain or Shine tries to equalize its own semifinal series versus TNT when they tangle at 7:30 p.m.

Ginebra won the first three games of the series in a dominant fashion behind its average winning margin of 21 points.

Picked as the underdog against NorthPort, which topped the elims with a 9-3 record, Ginebra flaunted its full offensive might by averaging 120 points, behind its 53 percent field goal shooting and displaying solid team play as seen in its 36 assists per contest.

Ginebra also overwhelmed NorthPort with its size, veteran smarts and athleticism en route to an average of 53 rebounds per game in the series compared to NorthPort's 37 boards.

Ginebra coach Tim Cone said everything is just "coalescing" at this stage in the series.

"Jamie [Malonzo] got confident, got his game going and started feeling good, and that makes all the difference in the world for a guy like that that has much talent," Cone said, in commending the athletic wingman, who exploded for 25 points in the Gin Kings' 127-100 rout of the Batang Pier in Game 3.

"RJ [Abarrientos] continues to mature in our offense and defense, and Mav [Ahanmisi] would be a starter in just any other team in the league, but just comes off the bench for us. So these things just start coalescing right now into this series," he added.

"There's a real good feel on people movement, ball movement, and we're defending well. We just ride through the wave hopefully, through the Finals and into the championship."

As for Rain or Shine (ROS), coach Yeng Guiao hopes his team's 103-98 win last Sunday could give his team the confidence booster it needs heading to Game 4.

"We're hoping we can push this series into a long series," said Guiao. "At least we now made it 2-1 (TNT leads it) and that means this [series] has a minimum of five games."

The fiery ROS mentor said his players are "physically and mentally prepared to play seven games in this series."

"We designed our management of our minutes to be able to still be fresh in a Game 7. That's what we're hoping we can reach. But for now, just one [game] at a time," he said.