Ginebra, TNT face off in historic PBA bubble Finals

The 45th season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is approaching its end, and two of its top teams will be playing for the historic feat of being the champions of the league's "bubble" in Pampanga.

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, the top seeded-team after the elimination rounds, will go against the TNT Tropang Giga for the Philippine Cup title.

TNT is back in the All-Filipino Finals stage after seven years, which is a welcome development for head coach Bong Ravena.

"It's good to be back in the finals," said Ravena after winning against Phoenix in the Game 5 of their semis series on Friday.

Ravena credited Phoenix for 'making TNT better' going into the Finals.

"Dahil nga sa Phoenix, siguro blessing in disguise din na talagang natapat kami sa kanila. Laking tulong nila na napagaling nila kami and siguro pagdating sa Finals, ready kami kasi hirap na hirap kami sa Phoenix eh, that made us better," he said.

The TNT head coach, however, considers their matchup against Ginebra a tough task. "Playing against Ginebra is tough. They have a coach who's very experienced, especially in the finals. We were outplayed by them in the elims. We will do our best to play well," the PBA quoted Ravena in an update. (https://pba.ph/news/kings-tropang-giga-start-slugfest-for-bubble-crown)

On the other side of the fence, Tim Cone believes they are the 'slight underdogs' going into the Finals.

"They were the favorite team, I think, coming into this bubble. I think that they showed that from the very beginning," Cone said. The Tropang Giga went on a 5-0 run to open their bubble campaign before the NLEX Road Warriors dealt them its first loss. 

"I think we're going in as slight underdogs," Cone said. "They're playing great basketball, they're well-coached, and they got Jayson [Castro]. Jayson is the difference maker," the multi-titled coach added.

Ginebra made its last Finals appearance in the 2019 Governors' Cup, where they emerged also as winners against their recent semis opponent Meralco. The league's crowd favorites went against San Miguel Beer in the 2016 Philippine Cup finals, their last finals stint in the All-Filipino conference.

In their only meetup in the conference, Ginebra bested TNT, 85-79. 

Game 1 of Ginebra and TNT's best-of-seven series will start on Sunday at 6 p.m.

— LA, GMA News