MANILA, Philippines — Barangay Ginebra turned to its defense to dethrone TNT, 88-76 en route to ruling the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup after winning the title series, 4-3 before a jampacked crowd at the SM Mall of Arena in Pasay.
The Gin Kings ended three straight Finals defeats to the Tropang 5G in a thrilling and epic seven-game championship series witnessed by 24,617 fans, setting a new all-time PBA attendance record at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The loss denied TNT of its bid for back-to-back Commissioner’s Cup championships.
Ginebra held TNT to just 29 points in the entire second half, while exploding for 48.
Justin Brownlee, who went on to earn Best Player honors in the series finale, churned out 34 points, 14 rebounds and five assists as he led Ginebra’s second half blitz.
RJ Abarrientos also delivered big in the endgame knocking down a top of the key three-point shot with 1:59 to go to give Ginebra a 83-76 lead.
That clutch three practically broke the backs of TNT, which led, 63-56 midway in the third canto, but simply lost steam in the last one and a half quarters of the win-or-go-home Game 7.
Scottie Thompson finished with a near triple-double of 19 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, while Abarrientos still managed to contribute 13 points despite struggling from the field with just 5-of-18 shooting.
The newly-minted Best Player of the Conference still managed to add four rebounds and eight assists.
Chris McCullough led TNT with 28 points and 22 rebounds, Jordan Heading had 21 and Roger Pogoy 15.
Calvin Oftana managed to play through a big toe injury, but contributed just five points and missed all his five three-point attempts.
