The Return of the Kings

From this night and for the days that will follow, the agonizing years that went before those will finally put into bed—but not without reminding the horde of fans the days and nights that fell to disquiet. Fans will be filled by endless and relentless clichés, from referencing movies that suited Ginebra's latest conquest and to realize the fitting end to an era that transcended basketball and trends. This piece is no exception.

Champions!

The Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings at long last!

For the better part of this decade, hardly we thought of the words Ginebra and champion adjoined on the same sentence. With Tim Cone at the helm, we could probably have to get used to it. It took him, the heartbreak kids' Great White Hope, to turn things around for the moribund Kings. Cone has his Messianic touch in full display like the sage in white robe and staff.  But unlike the sagacious Gandalf, Cone need not face death. Uncertainty, however, was the cup of tea for him moving to Ginebra at the start of the season in trying to revitalized a franchise left for dead.

Through heartbreaks and humiliations, for that long 8-year stretch, one would be surprised that they remain to be the league's biggest draw. The Ginebra as the most popular team suffered blow after blow from the fruitless campaigns it had after winning the Fiesta Conference diadem back in 2008. Slowly, other teams are inching closer to challenge the Kings as the darling of the crowd. On a steadfast rate, others became a regular fixture on the biggest stage of the tournament. 

Kangkong.

Bora.

Haters kicked hard when them men were down. They feasted at the team's failure after failure...and more failure like it's the greatest feeling the sporting world has to offer. The laughing stock they became cancelled off whatever significance they meant to the league.

But tonight, destiny has toyed on them more than enough. 

(Video courtesy of TV5, PBA, and the uploader)

Mark Caguioa, Jayjay Helterbrand, LA Tenorio and the rest of the Kings are lords of the rings once more!

 Together, they found their niche. In the elusive quest for their turn at the coronation, their stars shone as their triumvirate put the adage back in their storied careers. They earned their wares and more so ensured a potent winning tradition in the offing by guiding their wonder boy, Scottie Thompson to the biggest test of the youngster's own career. They made sure Scottie saw all of these—the loss, the struggles. And this sweet victory to remind the heir to the throne all of the sacrifices he will eventually have to endure will reap a reward so sweet. 

Perhaps, none of these would have happened if not for the heroics of someone from three months back, we never ever knew existed.

Justin Brownlee grew up idolizing both Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Two of the best that ever did it. Jordan and Bryant both made a career perfectly epitomizing what winning is all about. Both thrived on the testiest of moments basketball has ever imposed. Back in the 90's, a similarly Messianic import in Chris King brought Gordon's Gin (what Ginebra is formerly known of) to promised land. Just like what they did, Brownlee took this defining moment to realize a dream. The waning 5.5 seconds seemed forever to end but perhaps much more longer in the mind of Justin.

He, though, was prepared.

Brownlee, on his Aragorn-esque calm demeanor, took the pass and ensured he's eye to eye with his nemesis—the just crowned best import Allen Durham. He took his dribble on top of the arc, he measured the opponent that followed. But he's all squared up. Durham stabbed, but not enough to distract Justin's will. Again, he's all squared up. When he took the rebound and sued for timeout after a Durham miss, he knew he will take that last shot—regardless how Coach Tim Cone designs it on the play that ensued. 

The sea of flashlights emanating from the cell phones of the fans in attendance held their breath as Brownlee heaved the last shot of the season. It was beautiful...the airborne ball passing through the glimmer of the lights on a perfectly arced shot three pointer glides, kept afloat by the blood, sweat, tears of the players and fans alike. The ball must've gotten a mind of its own it could no longer bear the malady of another losing season if it will not be able to make it. "It must go in!", so thought the basketball. In the sea of Ginebra crowd, the ball rolls off perfect release, off perfectly timed Brownlee shot that scripted its way to the legends of not only that off Ginebra's but off the PBA at large. 

Swooosh!

BAAAAAAANG!

Eruption ensued 8 years in the making.

The long bomb that detonated at the buzzer sent the partisan Ginebra crowd screaming at the top of their lungs. The jubilant Barangay finally back on top! This was a joyous emancipation from the curse. Cursed for being the most loved sans fulfillment of expectations. 

Brownlee arrived in Ginebra's army of the dead and to say that these squad was released from their curse would have been an understatement. Released from their own chains, just how Aragorn did it in the Paths of the Dead. Together,  they reclaimed the throne in such dramatic fashion another lifetime would never be enough to removed this kind of memory etched permanently to the minds of the die hard fans.

It was a fitting end, too, for the longest–running backcourt pair in the PBA spanning 16 years. From the fastest, most furious Helterbrand–Caguioa that we can remember, none of those highlights would trump how they reached the finish line in such winning way. 

Ginebra rode every symphonic symbolism of this championship to the hilt, against a worthy opponent in Meralco equally-deserving of the glory the Kings just romped. Destiny chose Ginebra, however. Perhaps, more than the basketball flare and skills, their story of triumph rekindles the flame once lost in the murky shadows of 8-year drought. 

And for these Kings that wandered in oblivion for a very long while, their crowns remind us that victory awaits no matter how 8 years long. 

"Never Say Die! Never They Did."

The Fast and the Furious!—Their tales, success and struggles...and the last ride together

When their run is no longer fast and fury is only in the mind, the reminiscent past bore the glare of what used to be the greatest scene at the fast break. The dizzying and blitzing to and from that kicked in the heartbeat relentlessly. The grace and ruthlessness combined of their high-octane  offense left their trail ablaze and kept us drowned off the fire it sparked. For as long as one local hoopster could muster, the memories of what was once the best running mates that lorded it over, it's only a matter of time till we will be making poetries and songs for the explosive and exploitative "Fast and the Furious".

Jayjay Helterbrand and Mark Caguioa are all heart and soul. Diminutive yet fleeting. Reckless yet full of grace. The one displays the coolness of ice, the other exudes the breathe of the dragon. Together, they wrecked havoc like no other pair did. They have the swag straight outta Eagle Rock, Los Angeles that thrusted them into the limelight. They're nasty and maangas, it would seem to feel that their confidence runs as fast and furious as they do on the court. They have enamored the millions of basketball fans because they have,  and it was never fate nor byproduct of marketing machinations that catapulted them to it. They became household names and the glitz and the fad they brought akin to that Allen Iverson's hip-hop invasion in the NBA was notably era-defining that drove crazy fans to the filled rafters of each league venue. PBA was never the same again.

Helterbrand and Caguioa are both champions and heartbreak kids of the league and this authenticity made their lore even worthy of exploration. Together, they transcended the league like no other backcourt pair ever achieved. On a regular basis, we see generational players come but they do as an individual. Never seen was a duo that while individually great, a synergetic bond seemed to make them doubly spectacular. Together, they created a harmony in the mold of Simon and Garfunkel. Never in the history of the PBA that a backcourt tandem of 15 years of partnership would take an MVP award for each other while incessantly bucking the changes that beleaguered their team. 

Fans, some of them have grown impatient and seen shifting allegiance. The hardcores, perhaps those that were rooted since the Jaworski era remained—but not without the pain. Not without the cost of frustrated years and humiliation from the ever jeering league minorities. Kangkong, yes the water plant, made it to the Ginebra lore albeit unceremoniously. All these years, the salt rubbed on the wounds of Caguioa and Helterbrand only grew much harder to suck up. Helpless and dazed while father time inching by the day, such insufferable moments brought more questions than answers to their leadership.

But most of the fans remained, mostly waiting for the Kings, for the Fast and Furious to become relevant again. The changing of personnel surrounding the two happened rather quickly and in succession. "Kami na lang natira!" Caguioa exclaimed, much like lamenting that as holdovers, the two find it hard to get the perfect blend that made them successful before. They brought in pieces that they embraced wholeheartedly—even if it meant the realization that this team slowly slips from their cudgels. But both never cared, they wanted to win as a benchwarmer than top score as a bottom-feeder. 

That game 5 decider between Ginebra Gin Kings and the San Miguel Beermen will be best remembered not for its sheer vindication that indeed the crowd-favorite is back to its elite status, but for its touching scene where Caguioa and Helterbrand hugged at midcourt. It was nothing new, at every basket they made during their heydays, hugs and high fives seemed to punctuate the spectacle of their on-court exploits. As the cameras closed in to extract this moving scene shared by the tandem no less, it is pure emotions brimming for explosion any moment and it was best shared with the predominant Ginebra crowd who with them gutted it all out so many fruitless years. In what could be the few remaining instance we will ever see them on the court, flashes of bandanas in the heads, blonde and mohawk speedsters used to run over the competition in utter obliteration. And just so much affection to the dynamic duo that is due for a curtain call.

Caguioa and Helterbrand will vie for the crown—perhaps for the last time together. It may not be theirs to carry it seemed, as new breeds of the Gin Kings already leading them on the regular. But them to be crowned in front of the horde of Ginebra fanatics would touch nerves and emotions again. The crown that eluded them after some successes at the helm. For some, the fast and the furious has stayed too long and it would seem that it hurts us seeing them unable to run at the break like we were pampered to see. But we would weep in the height of emotions nonetheless, to see them pocket another crown at the tail end of their illustrious career.

This Finals duel between the crowd-darlings Barangay Ginebra Kings and the Meralco Bolts will sideshow perhaps the last duel amongst the finest guards of the early 2000's. Caguioa, Helterbrand and Jimmy Alapag all figured prominently during the past decade and it will be an epic scene to see them go at it for the last time. Alapag will be enshrined in the legendary annals of PBA when he decides to hang it up just like his two fierce rivals. Before Alapag stabbed the hearts of the likes of JJ Barea and those Korean sharpshooters in the international scene, one must remember that he had to go through Mark and Jayjay in the PBA. The competition they presented made Alapag such skilled and ruthless playmaker. 

Perhaps, at any part of this championship series we may see the checkpoint for both Caguioa and Helterbrand ala Toretto (Vin Diesel) and O'Conner (Paul Walker) at the end of FF7. The former stayed course while the latter took the other direction. In the momentous revisit of the car chase and mileage, fast breaks and long bombs, the basketball rendition of this movie franchise could never ran out of allegory to share—not even their endings were spared.

"One last ride!" Says Helterbrand, "Just like the movies!" 

And to here, the musn't missed final lap for "The Fast and the Furious" deserves every waning second to be witnessed by all that rode with them.