Bring on TNT versus San Miguel Beer: Round 3.
Riding on the red-hot hands of history-making CJ Perez, the defending champion Beermen finished off Barangay Ginebra in Game 6, 101-88, to force a titanic rematch with the Tropang 5G in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup finals last night.
Perez burned the hoops of the Smart Araneta Coliseum, rifling in a new career-best 41 big points spiked by 30-point barrage on a flawless 12-of-12 shooting in the first period that set the tone for SMB’s runaway clincher.
This 4-2 disposal of the crowd darlings sent the Beermen to a second straight tussle, and third in the last four seasons, for the league’s crown jewel with the Tropang 5G, who handled matters in their side of the Final Four against Meralco, 4-1.
San Miguel defeated TNT in the 2023 finals, 4-3, and last year, 4-2.
The reigning All-Filipino kings and TNT, which last won the centerpiece conference in 2021, duke it out beginning Wednesday.
Perez produced the greatest performance by any player, local or import, in an opening quarter of a game, with a dozen conversions without a miss, also entering the books as the best 100-percent clip in a quarter, supplanting the 9-of-9 of Cyrus Baguio in his 28-point performance in 2010.
The 30-point sizzler of “The Predator” over 12 minutes matched the second all-time most by any local posted by Bong Alvarez in the final canto of Alaska’s 169-138 romp of Shell on the way to 71 markers in 1990.
It’s next only to Allan Caidic’s 37-point eruption in the third quarter of Presto Tivoli’s 162-149 demolition of Ginebra in 1991 en route to the all-time single-game high among homegrown players of 79.
“I’m just honoring the game, playing the game and giving my best every time. And ngayong araw siguro, maganda lang mga tira ko at hindi siya pilit,” said Perez, who gave credit to the team’s defensive efforts that led to the early breakaway.
While Perez started the fire, it was Don Trollano who served as closer, dropping 15 his 23 in the second half to counter Ginebra’s second-half uprising and fill in while Perez rode the bench on foul trouble.
