Meralco looks to finally solve Ginebra puzzle in PBA Finals

The Meralco Bolts are marching into the 2021 PBA Governors' Cup finals with confidence and belief that they can finally take a championship from perennial title contender Barangay Ginebra.

In three of the last four editions of the season-ending conference, the Bolts and the Gin Kings duked it out for the coveted title but it has been a bit of a one-sided rivalry with Ginebra ruling all three tournaments.

This time around, Meralco is hoping to finally break the curse.

"First of all, it's a blessing to be back in the finals again. It's something you really have to cherish because it doesn't happen all the time and when you get to the finals, you really want to take advantage of your opportunity," said Meralco head coach Norman Black during a press conference on Monday.

He added: "Yes, we haven't beaten them out of the last three times we played against them but we're hoping that this will be the time that we will beat them."

The two teams first battled for the Governors' Cup title in 2016 but Ginebra won in six games before the wards of multi-titled mentor Tim Cone repeated over Meralco in the 2017 edition. Both teams, though, failed to advance in 2018 with Magnolia copping the title against Alaska.

They met again in 2019 but Meralco failed to flip the narrative as Ginebra came up victorious in just five games. In those three meetings and now as well, Ginebra was with resident import Justin Brownlee.

Meralco governor Al Panlilio admitted that it won't be easy cracking the code of Ginebra but said they are up for the task.

"This is the fourth chapter and hopefully, it's our time this time. But I guess, I just want to say to Norman and to the players of Meralco, a bishop cannot checkmate a king, right? So I think we need a queen and a rook to checkmate a king," Panlilio said.

"That's our challenge in Meralco, we will make it competitive and hopefully win the series but we're looking forward to an exciting series."

Meanwhile, Cone said they are not thinking about the two team's history but rather what's in front of them right now.

"As a group, we don't really think about what happened in the past. We're trying to stay focused right now. We haven't really discussed the part one or part two or whatever, it's just really what's in front of us right now and that's trying to win a championship," the decorated tactician said.

"We do know that Meralco is going to be greatly motivated. They always are. They're incredibly coached and they just seem to evolve and get better every year."

—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA News