One cardiac game to remember

It's only fitting that a cardiac finish would cap off a very tight quarterfinals series between Alaska and Barangay Ginebra.

And the Aces, who won a 93-91 thriller in Game 5, should be thankful for Joe Devance and import Diamon Simpson, who both conspired on a big basket amidst a broken play, the distraction of a huge Ginebra crowd, and the shot clock winding down.

That play, where Devance passed the ball against two defenders from the three-point area into an open Simpson inside with five seconds left, coupled with Cyrus Baguio's strip on Eric Menk on the next play concluded perhaps one of the memorable series in league history.

"You know, it's almost sad to me that someone had to lose this basketball game," said Alaska coach Tim Cone. "Obviously, I'm glad it wasn't us but still someone had to lose the series."

"But I don't think you couldn't have a more even series, I don't think I ever seen this tight of a series where every game is decided in the last 30 seconds of the basketball game so you know tough one to lose my heart goes out to them," he added.

Many thought the Aces had the game wrapped up in the palm of their hands when LA Tenorio banged home a three-pointer with 2:15 remaining.

At that point, Tenorio made his 25th point of the game while Simpson, who eventually finished with 24 points, 22 rebounds and five blocks, wrecked the Ginebra frontline inside the shaded lane and Cyrus Baguio, eager to beat his former club after he was dealt for Willie Miller during the conference, buried 5-of-7 threes for 22 points.

But the lead was later cut the four then Simpson nearly turned from hero to goat on two plays. One, he accidentally tipped home a missed shot by Jayjay Helterbrand with 31 seconds left.

Then, he threw an errant baseball pass straight into Helterbrand, who confidently drained a booming triple from the right side of the arc that rocked the 21,062 strong fans on hand to see the game. By then, it was 91-90 with 28.5 ticks left.

If anything Cone had to be glad on the succeeding play was the composure his players showed.

First, Baguio nearly lost the ball then passed it to Tenorio, who nearly lost the ball on a double team. He returned the ball to Baguio. But when the Ginebra defense pressured him, he dished it to Devance, who was quickly approached by two defenders from the right elbow and with the shot clock nearly expiring.

But Devance perhaps thought to hit a quick shot but in a split second dropped the ball to an open Simpson, who made up for his two mistakes earlier by quickly sinking the layup with 5.0 seconds remaining that put Alaska back in the lead - for good.

"Well, it wasn't that great (of a play)," Cone said. "But you know it was a tough play and a tough position, the crowd going wild, I'm trying to call a timeout and they can't see me but you what I like was the composure we showed in the last play."

"I thought that Joe showed great composure catching that ball. He could have fired up a quick shot but still made the extra pass to Diamon for the layup with just seconds to go in the shot clock. He has really just grown in front of our eyes in these last few weeks."

The Kings tried for a last second victory but Baguio came away with a huge steal off Menk and was fouled with 0.1 seconds left. He later split his charities and then reportedly taunted his former team with a few gestures. On the other end there was Helterbrand, on the floor with teammates consoling him and perhaps battling tears after Ginebra was denied of a chance to create another one of its customary comebacks.

"It's a little bittersweet because these kinds of series are the ones you learn to appreciate," said Cone. "I mean these (games) will be the ones you'll remember 10 years from now when you're in a rocking chair talking to your kids. Even though it was only a quarterfinal series, it felt like a championship series."

How memorable this series would be? Four games were close and Games 2 and 4 likewise were close in the last two minutes even though the Aces went up 2-0 before the Kings fired back by winning the next two and had a chance to repeat the same comeback it did in the previous Philippine Cup quarters.

Now that this series is over, Alaska can now look forward to an intriguing best-of-five semis clash with Talk N' Text which starts on Wednesday.

The Aces are banged up and the Tropang Texters, who earned an outright semis seat thanks to a 15-3 record highlighted by a 13-game winning streak, is well rested but Cone hopes to come away with some surprises.

"We are coming off a tough series and we are a little banged up and we had some guys that are just coming back from injuries so they have the huge advantage in the first game or two," Cone said.

"But we just have to battle with them and stick it out and go deeper to our bench and see if we can get some guys who can surprise them but you know Talk N' Text is formidable but we are not afraid of them."

Author Notes: Perhaps this writer should learn from Yogi Berra's famous quote saying, "It's ain't over till the fat lady sings." Well, this writer decided to go back to the media room with 2:15 left thinking that Alaska had it in the game and apparently had to witness all that magic unfolded through the television screen. This was a fitting end to a three-playdate PBA coverage of this writer. This will come out on Tempo tomorrow. Konting edit lang dito especially the sequence of the Simpson basket dahil ang bilis ng pangyayari (had to rely on that YouTube clip that was posted early this afternoon by someone to review the play again).