Saving the day

San Miguel’s CJ Perez loses a handle on the ball early in Game 3, but was perfect in the stretch. —MARLO CUETO

From a perfect start to finish off a semifinal series, CJ Perez produced the perfect finish in Game 3 that put San Miguel Beer’s nose out front of TNT in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.

Those two games—the title series berth-clinching win and this one on Sunday night—were the biggest that Perez has played in the last nine days as the Beermen won a second straight game in the most unbelievable style to go 2-1 up over the hard-fighting Tropang 5G after a 95-89 decision.

Perez buried a four-point shot and then a triple that served as the gut punch for TNT, which put the Mall of Asia crowd in disbelief after TNT had zoomed out front, 89-86 with 50 seconds left in the back-and-forth and sometimes heated affair.

“When that four-point shot went in, I just thanked the Lord,” Perez said in Filipino after firing one over Calvin Oftana that made it 90-89.

But Perez was not done.

A stop by San Miguel on the ensuing TNT possession allowed Perez to knock down another rainbow shot, this time from the convention three-point line for a Beermen lead, 93-89.

Jordan Heading muffed a game-tying four and TNT was left to lament on the what-ifs after rallying from a 33-19 deficit in the first quarter, squandering a 61-50 lead in the third to trail 86-79 near the homestretch of the fourth.

Just perfect

The night belonged to Perez, who finished with 20 points, with 17 coming in the fourth after an immaculate shooting display where he made all six of his attempts, which was reminiscent of the way he played in the first quarter of Game 6 of the semifinals against Barangay Ginebra, where he scored 30 of his career-high 41 in the first quarter by going a perfect 12-of-12.

Don Trollano had 19 points, June Mar Fajardo posted 16 points and 27 rebounds as San Miguel moved two wins from repeating its triumph over TNT for the Season 49 edition of the All-Filipino tournament.

Game 4 is on Wednesday at the same venue.

Oftana finished with 25 points, bouncing back from his on-and-off first two games in Antipolo, while Heading had 15 points, seven rebounds and 11 assists with Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser posting 15 points and 13 rebounds and Rey Nambatac 12.

Nambatac’s triple gave TNT that 87-86 lead before Henry Galinato’s slam extended the gap to three for the Tropang 5G.

Then, it became a climactic show for the man they call “The Predator.”