With Air21 up by one, Raymundo rebounded the ball with 11 seconds remaining, but Roger Yap flubbed his pass and missed his lay-up against Shawn Daniels to give Air21 the victory.
Clutch plays from former Ateneo teammates Enrico Villanueva and Larry Fonacier prevented a Ginebra run late in the fourth quarter in games 3 to 4 that placed Red Bull in an imposing 3–1 series lead.
† denotes number of overtimes Wednesday, February 8, at the Araneta Coliseum.After conquering their respective semi-final rivals, the Giants and the Barako are both itching to win their first PBA titles in 4 years.
In the dying seconds of regulation, with the score tied at 89-all, Purefoods import Marquin Chandler failed to convert an open jumper at the paint that could've won them the game.
With a masterful conquest of Purefoods at game one, third seed Red Bull Barako aimed to have a commanding 2-0 lead at the best of seven series.
The last time Purefoods was down 0–2 at the finals, they've rallied and won the next four games, clinching the 2002 Governors' Cup at the expense of the Alaska Aces.
Purefoods then had problems when their import, Marquin Chandler, got into foul trouble, forcing the Chunkee Giants to play All-Filipino for a great part of the first half.
On the second quarter, Purefoods made key defensive adjustments that limited Red Bull's scoring opportunities.
But when the Chunkee Giants raised the lead back to ten, Chandler fouled out at the 3:49 mark, which led to a 5-0 run by Red Bull.
A Raymundo assist to Jondan Salvador raised the lead by seven at the 1:00 mark, and Purefoods never looked back as they clinched their first victory in the Fiesta Conference finals.
[1] The halftime show featured the first part of the interview of ABC Sports' Richard del Rosario to Kris Aquino and Purefoods sophomore James Yap, who are engaged to each other.
The Best Player, restricted to Filipinos had a tighter race among Purefoods' Kerby Raymundo, Air21's Renren Ritualo, and Red Bull's Enrico Villanueva.
On the fourth period, James Yap, who was celebrating his 24th birthday made clutch freethrows, much to the delight of fiancée Kris Aquino.
Red Bull Barako seemed intent from the get-go to prevent a 3-2 Purefoods series lead, as they, like in previous games, surged ahead at the first half.
[2] Best Import of the Conference Marquin Chandler had another day in the office with a series-high 43 points, but he did not receive support from the locals, especially when the Bulls won the battle of the bench, 40-13.
Red Bull put down the defensive clamps in the stretch and got several clutch plays from an array of heroes to finally send the Giants down to their knees and capture the PBA Fiesta Conference crown before a roaring crowd of 10,755.
James Penny was in the zone in the third quarter but solid contributions coming from Mick Pennisi, Cyrus Baguio, Topex Robinson and Finals' Most Valuable Player Lordy Tugade also help the Bulls clinch their third franchise title since joining the league in 2000.
[3] Pennisi had big shots in the end, including two three-pointers and a long two, while Baguio, Celino Cruz and Junthy Valenzuela made great stops that rendered the Giants scoreless in the final one minute and 33 seconds.