San Miguel was the better team but Ginebra was the Champion

(c) Barangay Ginebra San Miguel FB Page

I am not joking. San Miguel was the better team all throughout the series. And why are we even shocked knowing that the Beermen has formed, arguably, the most loaded team in the history of the PBA!

You do not believe me? Look at this numbers.

4.5

The Beermen outrebounded the Kings by 4.5 per game. Rebounding is an underrated part of the game but don't forget that it provides control to the team that can grab more. San Miguel has control of the game but failed to deliver.

5.0

Up to the last game, San Miguel did not help Ginebra by becoming sloppy and turning the ball over. The Beermen averaged 13.5 turnovers per game and that is so low! No team averaged less than 14.2 turnovers in the elimination! 

Ginebra provided 18.5 extra-possessions to San Miguel with their turnovers. That 5.0 difference combined with their rebounding advantage are pieces of evidence of the command of San Miguel in this series.

3.0

There is no doubt that the paint was the most crucial battle-area in the series. And San Miguel got the advantage again by scoring 3.0 more than Ginebra in the paint. With their ability to score inside, San Miguel provided a big roadblock to Ginebra.

And Ginebra overcomes it.

So, how did Ginebra win the title?

Coaching

In my prediction article, I pointed out the shot-attempts of Balkman as a negative for San Miguel. Balkman ended up with 24 shots in game 6, the most for any Beermen. The 2nd was the 17 attempts taken by Fajardo.

In short, coach Leo either was fine with it or failed to provide more shots to his elite locals. 

On the other hand, Ginebra never had a player who attempted more than 24 shots in the entire series. Coach Tim provided enough shots to his locals to keep their focus and maintain their good flow. They averaged 5.7 players per game who attempted at least 6 shots.

Defensively, coach Tim made the proper adjustments. He provided different looks to San Miguel that zap the flow out of them.

Defense

In the last two game of the series, Ginebra's defense finally tightened and San Miguel never found a way to penetrate it even though their talent-level dictates that they should. 

The Beermen only hit 36.3% of their shots in the last two games, which was a testament to the energetic defense of Ginebra.

One area that coach Tim focused on was the three-point shooting of San Miguel. Ginebra pushed San Miguel to 20.2% shooting from beyond the arc in the four games that they won!

At the end, the numbers did not lie that Arwind Santos and Chris Ross were below-average three-point shooters. Coach Tim saw that and took advantage.

Hustle and Hunger

It was pretty obvious all throughout the series. Ginebra played like lions fighting for their prey, while San Miguel were moving like kings trying to defend their kingdom. That made a big difference. 

Justin Brownlee and Scottie Thompson led the way. These two were consistently hustling all throughout the series. Last night, even though Brownlee and Thompson played 44 and 38 minutes, respectively, they look fresher at the end of the game than the Beermen.

Never forget that this is a team sport and talent can easily overcome by heart and hustle. And Ginebra showed that.

Overall, this series reminds me of this beautiful truth about basketball. Team-play wins championship.