Back to zero

The PBA Governors' Cup Finals is virtually back to zero with defending champion TNT and tough-as-nails challenger Barangay Ginebra claiming two wins apiece to send the best-of-seven series back to square one with the race down to a max of six or seven games.

- JOAQUIN M. HENSON

Not too many fans gave Ginebra a chance to recover after TNT zoomed to a 2-0 lead, bamboozling coach Tim Cone's charges with a defensive stranglehold that limited the Barangay to an average of 86 points. Justin Brownlee, heralded as the all-time import yardstick, was turned into a mere mortal by rampaging Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and his band of brothers. Brownlee, who shot a lofty .393 from three in the semis, couldn't buy a triple in those first two encounters, hounded by a trapping double team to take away his perimeter point of attack.