The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel have a shot at booking a ticket to the 2022 PBA Governors’ Cup Finals, but they can’t expect things to be easy this Sunday against a desperate NLEX Road Warriors.

Catch this game live on Sunday, March 27 at 6:30 pm, Manila time.

The NLEX Road Warriors (0-2)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG: Kevin Alas
  • SG: Kris Rosales
  • SF: Paul Varilla
  • PF: David Murrell
  • C: Cameron Clark

There’s no more room for mistakes for NLEX. Down 0-2 in the series, the Road Warriors will look to extend their life in the conference this Sunday. Yeng Guiao’s team has seen one of its biggest strengths in the Governors’ Cup taken away by the Barangay, as NLEX’s outside shooting has nearly gone kaput. The Road Warriors are making 10.3 threes per game this season but were 6/21 from deep in Game 1 and  8/30 in their 104-94 loss in Game to Ginebra. 

Nevertheless, that was a better showing offensively overall for the Road Warriors than in the series opener, so they are hoping that the trend continues. NLEX import Cameron Clark has to be more assertive on offense after scoring just 15 points in Game 2. He went 7/10 from the field in that contest but his effort was a far cry from import standards. If Japeth Aguilar gets ruled out anew, the Road Warriors should be able to capitalize after missing on that opportunity in Game 2.

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The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel (2-0)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG: LA Tenorio
  • SG: Scottie Thompson
  • SF: Justin Brownlee
  • PF: Christian Standhardinger
  • C: Japeth Aguilar

Ginebra’s ‘Never Say Die’ mantra sounds so cliche, but that’s what they’ve been manifesting since late in the elimination round. The Barangay are now 5-0 in their last five games, and with how they’ve been playing NLEX, that streak is very much likely get stretched again this Sunday. Justin Brownlee has been showing Clark how big of a gap there is between them in terms of PBA experience and effectiveness in the league. 

Brownlee dropped 27 points in Game 1 and them ramped it up in Game 2 with 32 markers. He’s been shooting way over 50 FG% in the series. Even better for Ginebra is that the locals are stepping up as well. Christian Standhardinger has been exploiting Clark’s defense while the three-headed backcourt attack of LA Tenorio, Nard Pinto, and Scottie Thompson is proving to be an unsolvable problem for NLEX. The three guards combined for 32 points and 15 of Ginebra’s 26 assists in Game 2. Aguilar’s status for Game 3 should be closely monitored after he missed Game 2 with a calf injury. 

PREDICTION:

Spread: NLEX makes a strong push to prevent a sweep. Looking at the Road Warriors to get hot from deep and score a cover (+3.5) at least.

Over/Under: With NLEX’s offense gaining ground and Ginebra’s assist-happy offense, I’m going to pick the Over (198.0) here.