Alaska hopes to deliver KO punch vs champs SMB

Alaska have come this far in the PBA Fiesta Conference for them not to think of winning the championship outright given the first of three chances in wrapping up the best-of-seven Finals series. "We’re a confident team and we believe that we can get the trophy on Sunday," said Tim Cone in a rare display of bravado hardly seen from the winningest coach in the PBA’s 35-year history. "We’re ready to go." The Aces try to complete the latest in their series of shockers when they go for the kill against the embattled defending champion San Miguel Beermen in Sunday’s Game 5 at the Araneta Coliseum. The General Milling franchise jumped to a commanding 3-1 Finals lead following a 90-83 win in Game 4 on Friday night, putting the Aces on the verge of bagging a 13th league championship that would tie them with the legendary Crispa Redmanizers for the second most numbers of PBA titles just behind SMB’s 18. And Cone, having seen his Alaska crew stun crowd favorite Ginebra in the quarterfinals, eliminate top seed Talk `N Text in the semis, and appear to have San Miguel’s numbers in the Finals, can’t see no reason why they would fail at this stage. "We will obviously go for it," said Cone. “We know how to win back-to-back games, we know how to respond from bad losses. As our learning curve increases we’re getting better and better. So yeah, we think we can do it in Game Five." History does favor the Aces. Only one PBA team has ever succeeded in winning the title after going down 3-1 in the Finals and that honor belongs to Ginebra, which rallied past Shell in the 1991 First Conference. If ever, one blot mark in Cone’s winning record had him losing a similar 3-1 lead during the 2005-06 Philippine Cup semifinals series against Purefoods. San Miguel is taking solace in those rare, rare instances of at least two PBA ballclubs – including one in the finals – overcoming such huge odds as the one staring the Beermen at the moment. "I talked to the players about it (3-1 deficit). And I said ‘are we going to look at this as a hopeless situation? Or are we going to look at this as a challenge we could overcome?’ I really don’t think that it’s over. It’s not an ideal situation, but this will test our true character," said San Miguel coach Siot Tanquingcen, who himself hadn’t lost in three previous trips to the Finals. But for the reigning champions to get back their morale and confidence, they better start shooting well from the floor. That was not the case in Game 4 when Best Player of the Conference winner Jay Washington was limited to four points on 2-of-12 shooting from the floor. And then, there is Dondon Hontiveros. The veteran swingman has struggled through the first four games of the series, scoring a combined 14 markers on a paltry 20 percent field goal shooting (5-of-25). As it is, only import Gabe Freeman has been the consistent player delivering for San Miguel, coming through with 28 points and 17 rebounds in the Game 4 loss. "He’s a beast," said Cone of the San Miguel import. “Nobody can stop him. We try to limit him as much as we can but it’s a tough order." – JVP, GMANews.TV