The Meralco Bolts put the clamps on Ginebra’s stars to win Game Three, 83-74, and take a 2-1 series lead in the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals on Sunday night at the jampacked Mall of Asia Arena.
Tony Bishop and Chris Newsome had excellent performances, finishing with a double-double each to power the Bolts to the Game Three victory. Bishop had 30 points and 16 rebounds, while Newsome had 20 markers and 11 boards, while Allein Maliksi added 10 after being held scoreless in Game Two.
Defense, though, was Meralco’s calling card in Game Three as they held Ginebra to their lowest scoring output in the entire conference.
“I sound like a broken record sometimes but both teams played really good defense tonight and you can tell that by the score. It was difficult to score out there and it was a matter of getting some stops and try to hold on as long as we could,” said Meralco head coach Norman Black after the match.
The Bolts finished the match with a 14-5 flurry, highlighted by a slam by Bishop that seemingly took the wind out of Ginebra’s sails.
Ginebra import Justin Brownlee did all that he could for the Kings as he produced a near-quadruple-double of 19 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists, and six blocks. Christian Standhardinger helped him out with 17 points and six boards.
Meralco amps up the defense to put down Ginebra in Game Three of PBA Governors’ Cup Finals
