San Mig Coffee Mixers make history with Grandslam win, 92-89
Irish Clarine V. Matito
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The Filipino Watchdog 8:27 PM | Wednesday, March 24th, 2015
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Last July 9, 2014, a day that has forever been marked in the days of history of Philippine basketball, a very rare event that has been 18 years in the making, witnessed by over 23,000 fans who watched live at the Mall of Asia Arena and the thousand more who watched from their homes. The phenomenal grandlam win of San Mig Coffee Mixers in the 2014 Governor's Cup finals series.
It was a day of victory not only to the whole franchise of the team but also to all the fans that waited for such an epic event. A score of 92-89, only a three-point lead, over their opponent Rain or Shine Elasto Painters made the history.
In the first half, Elasto painters started hot with the 3-point shot from Paul Lee, the mixers manage to have back-up shots and tighten the defense to quickly regain leads.
Meanwhile, in the midst of the heat of the play, the ball boy, Jun Rillo of the mixers had a controversial exposure as he eagerly complain to the referee after calling a line violation to Mark Pingris. Rillo, now known as “boy sukat” caused the team a technical foul giving the Rain or Shine two free throws.
During the last quarter, with 26 seconds left in the time clock, Elasto painters had numerous chances to tie up the game by having opportunities for three point shots from its caliber shooter Jeff Chan, Paul Lee and Arizona Reed, but still coming up short missing all fired shots.
Headed by the Finals MVP James Yap and Mr. Everything Marqus Blakely, the Mixers ended leading all quarters. 23-16, 43-48, 73-70, 92-89 respectively.
"I'm overwhelmed by it, the water hit me but this whole thing has not hit me yet.” San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone said after being drenched by a cold celebratory bath by his players.
Cone happens to be the coach of the last team who won the same grandslam in 1996 – Alaska Aces, making him not only the “winningest coach” in PBA but also a two-time grandslam coach.
"There was certain inevitability about it with the Alaska team. Here, we were just guessing all the time whether we were gonna do this or not. The Alaska team of that third conference of that '96 year was so dominant. They won 13 games in a row and we just swept through the playoffs. We knew we were gonna win it. Here we had to earn it. It had to come down to the last two seconds. And I guess in a way, I don't wanna say its any sweeter, but the harder you work the sweeter it is."
Mixers have gone through seven do-or-die battles before they made it to the championship.
It was a day of victory not only to the whole franchise of the team but also to all the fans that waited for such an epic event. A score of 92-89, only a three-point lead, over their opponent Rain or Shine Elasto Painters made the history.
In the first half, Elasto painters started hot with the 3-point shot from Paul Lee, the mixers manage to have back-up shots and tighten the defense to quickly regain leads.
Meanwhile, in the midst of the heat of the play, the ball boy, Jun Rillo of the mixers had a controversial exposure as he eagerly complain to the referee after calling a line violation to Mark Pingris. Rillo, now known as “boy sukat” caused the team a technical foul giving the Rain or Shine two free throws.
During the last quarter, with 26 seconds left in the time clock, Elasto painters had numerous chances to tie up the game by having opportunities for three point shots from its caliber shooter Jeff Chan, Paul Lee and Arizona Reed, but still coming up short missing all fired shots.
Headed by the Finals MVP James Yap and Mr. Everything Marqus Blakely, the Mixers ended leading all quarters. 23-16, 43-48, 73-70, 92-89 respectively.
"I'm overwhelmed by it, the water hit me but this whole thing has not hit me yet.” San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone said after being drenched by a cold celebratory bath by his players.
Cone happens to be the coach of the last team who won the same grandslam in 1996 – Alaska Aces, making him not only the “winningest coach” in PBA but also a two-time grandslam coach.
"There was certain inevitability about it with the Alaska team. Here, we were just guessing all the time whether we were gonna do this or not. The Alaska team of that third conference of that '96 year was so dominant. They won 13 games in a row and we just swept through the playoffs. We knew we were gonna win it. Here we had to earn it. It had to come down to the last two seconds. And I guess in a way, I don't wanna say its any sweeter, but the harder you work the sweeter it is."
Mixers have gone through seven do-or-die battles before they made it to the championship.