MANILA – Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings and Meralco Bolts return from a lengthy break to begin their chase for the 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup trophy in Game 1 of the finals tonight at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
This will be the third time in the last four Governors’ Cup that the Kings and the Bolts are facing each other in the finals, with the former winning both that finals series.
Despite owning the Bolts numbers, Kings head coach Tim Cone admitted it won’t be easy to repeat the feat against the vastly-improved Meralco this time around.
“We played them twice and we beat them twice. So Meralco is going to be super hungry to beat us,” Cone said during the pre-finals press conference over the weekend.
Bolts mentor Norman Black, for his part, said the heartbreak and experience they got in past defeats to the Kings will aid his squad in pulling one from the Ginebra.
“Our goal is to win the championship,” Black said. “We got a lot of respect for Ginebra. Tim Cone is one of the top coaches in the league, but our goal is to win, simple as that.”
Kings will once again rely on reinforcement Justin Brownlee with veteran locals LA Tenorio, Stanley Pringle, Earl Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar, and Gregory Slaughter providing the support.
The Bolts, on the other hand, still has Allen Durham along with locals Baser Amer, Chris Newsome, Raymond Almazan, Allein Maliksi, and rookie Kier John Quinto.
Ginebra reached the best-of-seven finale after toppling NorthPort Batang Pier in the semifinals while Meralco upsets sister-team TNT KaTropa in five games./PN
