Magical ride continues for Tigers

It has become a familiar sight by now: Powerade governor J.B. Baylon makes a surprise appearance at a do-or-die game, which the Tigers win, after which he joins coach Bo Perasol in the post-game press conference.

If he can help it, Baylon rarely watches the Tigers' games because of his hypertension. But last December 18, he rushed over to the Araneta Coliseum to cheer on the Tigers, who were in the midst of a comeback from 17 points down against the B-Meg Llamados in their quarterfinal series knockout game. We all know how that ended.

Exactly one month later, the Tigers found themselves in the same situation, playing in a do-or-die game, only this time the opponent was Rain or Shine, and what was at stake was a trip to the Philippine Cup finals. This time Baylon was at the venue before the start of the game, sporting a blue shirt that said "We Believe!"

Baylon believed, and the Tigers achieved, turning back the Elasto Painters 107-98 to barge into the finals and continue their magic carpet ride, becoming the first-ever eighth seed to make it to the finals of a PBA conference.

"The credit for all of this belongs to Boss J.B.," Perasol said, his boss seated next to him. "He was the one who really stood by the team all these years, throughout all the wins and most of the losses. He deserves it. I just thank him and my players for getting us into this situation."

Three-man team

After winning Game 6 convincingly, Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao called Powerade a "three-man team" that relied heavily on Gary David, Marcio Lassiter and JV Casio. This over-reliance on their three stars, Guiao reasoned, would give them the edge in Game 7.

The three did end up accounting for 66 of Powerade's 107 points, with Casio scoring 25, David 24 and Lassiter 17, and all three playing at least 35 minutes, but they got ample support from their supposedly invisible teammates. Doug Kramer chipped in 12 plus 15 rebounds and matched the physicality of Rain or Shine's big men shove for shove, elbow for elbow. Celino Cruz, who shot bricks in Game 6, finally hit his stride with 10 points off the bench, including a huge triple in the fourth period that stymied the Elasto Painters' rally. Veteran Will Antonio also came off the bench with 10 points, while power forward Sean Anthony sealed the win with a free throw, a steal and another free throw all in the last 25 seconds.

"I think the key there was getting those people who can really win for us," Perasol said. "I don't think we have a magical system that we are working on. It's just that we have people, we have players that are winners in their hearts."

Ironically, Baylon had told Perasol at the start of the conference that no less than a quarterfinal finish would be acceptable if Perasol wanted to keep his job. "I told him that the minimum requirement is to enter the quarters," Baylon said. "If we don't, then thank you."

Perasol and his crew have made those expectations appear meager. After toppling B-Meg, the Tigers weren't favored by most observers against the Elasto Painters, who were also enjoying their own success story after ousting fourth seed Barangay Ginebra. But RoS only led once in this series, winning the first game before dropping the next two and playing catch-up the rest of the way.

They caught up one last time in Game 6, tying the series 3-3 with a resounding 112-98 win. But they came out flat in this do-or-die Game 7, committing uncharacteristic errors and allowing themselves to fall behind by 20 points for the first time in the series. In contrast, the Tigers' outside shooting, a vital piece of their previous three series wins, came through last night, even with David hitting only three of his 11 three-point attempts. Every time Rain or Shine threatened, a Tiger would respond with a big triple.

Casio comes through

Casio made 5-for-7 on threes, and 8-for-11 overall, although he had to leave the game with less than eight minutes left after getting injured on a drive. His two free throws before sitting down made it 91-78 for the Tigers, and while he was away, the Elasto Painters made their move.

A Jeff Chan jumper cut the lead to just 98-90 with 4:45 left, and that was the cue for Perasol to send Casio back into the game. The number one overall draft pick responded right away, scoring on a drive and drawing a foul for a three-point play that pushed Powerade's lead back up to double digits, 101-90, with 4:05 left. The E-Painters weren't done yet, Gabe Norwood's triple making it 103-96 with 2:08 left. But David, who finished with less than 30 points for only the second time in the last nine games, came through with his biggest bucket of the evening, a jumper from 20 feet that pushed Powerade up by nine once more, 105-96.

Ronnie Matias scored the E-Painters' last basket before Anthony put the finishing touches on the Tigers' historic win.

The E-Painters had a reputation of being physical bordering on dirty, and in this knockout game they definitely didn't pull their punches. Beau Belga was called for a flagrant foul 1 after a vicious hack on a driving Kramer. Belga and Ryan Arana also drew technicals for scuffling with Rommel Adducul and Lassiter. The Tigers rose to the challenge and didn't meekly turn the other cheek. Adducul and Lassiter were also T-ed up for standing up to Belga and Arana, while David was the first to get into Belga's face after the latter's hard foul on Kramer.

For all their physicality, it seemed as if it was Rain or Shine that got rattled all game long. The E-Painters missed 10 free throws and were in an offensive funk for most of the game, scoring only 39 points at the halftime break. On defense, they allowed Powerade to score 32 points in the third period, with the lead ballooning to as high as 21, 84-63, late in the third.

The E-Painters scored the game's first six points, but the Tigers scored the next nine to take a 9-6 lead. RoS briefly made a game out of it for the next few minutes, but when Powerade ended the quarter up 22-18, it was a lead the Tigers would keep until the final whistle.

On to the finals

Waiting for Powerade in the finals are the defending champion Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters, coached by the man who coached the Powerade franchise to its last championship in 2004, Chot Reyes. After toppling the no. 1 seed in the quarterfinals and surviving a grueling seven-game series against the Elastopainters, it will be interesting to see if Powerade still has one last big run in them to complete their historic run.

"If it's written in stone, then I think we have a big chance," said Perasol. "We'll continue to write history and we'll continue to inspire."

E-mail: sid_ventura@yahoo.com.