Barangay Ginebra Moves a Win Away From PBA Finals Berth

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is one win away from reaching another PBA grand finals berth after pulling off a lopsided Game 3 victory over the NorthPort Batang Pier, 127-100, in the ongoing PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals on March 2, 2025, at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.

With the win, Ginebra just increased their PBA semifinal series lead to a commanding 3-0 and will only need one more dub to march to the grand finals.

No matter what kind of adjustment NorthPort tried to slow down the Gin Kings, the more experienced and deeper squad still looked invincible and replicated their walk-in-the-park performances in Games 1 & 2 which completely sucked the life out of the hopeful Batang Pier team.

Despite a soft mix-up of a zone defense and a man-to-man full-court press, Ginebra just brushed any antics that NorthPort pulled off using their crisp ball movement and a perfect execution of their triangle offense.

Ginebra quickly gained the advantage as early as the first quarter after their late three-pointer conversions piled up their lead to nine points heading into the second.

However, it was in the following frame when the Gin Kings quickly blew the game wide-open after outscoring NorthPort, 34-19, en route to a commanding 33-point cushion.

The moment that Ginebra reached the 30-point lead mark, the Batang Pier team looked flat and failed to comeback in the second half, allowing the Gin Kings to seize a momentum-boosting 3-0 semis series lead.

No matter what unit Ginebra head coach Tim Cone fielded inside the playing court, everyone produced and delivered efficient numbers, especially the recovering Jamie Malonzo who erupted for 25 big points.

Still yet to reach his optimum state after suffering a calf injury that kept him out of the lineup for almost a year, the athletic small forward paid off the trust of the coaching staff after draining four three-pointers out of five total attempts.

Justin Brownlee put up an all-around performance of 22 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists, while the duo of Japeth Aguilar and Scottie Thompson chipped in 17 and 15 markers, respectively.

“We’ve been talking a lot about discipline, a lot about process, and those are kind of our key words right now in terms of getting ourselves ready for each game. This team has always been a good team about moving on,” said Cone after the Game 3 win.

The Gin Kings will have the chance to pull off the sweet 4-0 sweep on March 5, 2025, when they meet with NorthPort again for Game 4 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals.