Game Monday (Araneta Coliseum)
7:00 p.m. — San Miguel vs Ginebra (Game 5)

Aside from the trend of one team winning games with odd numbers and the other on even digits, it’s actually the team that controls the board that ends up with the victory.

The team – either defending champion Barangay Ginebra or San Miguel Beer – that hustles more particularly in the rebounding department will likely end up hoisting the coveted championship trophy of the season-ending Motolite-PBA Fiesta Cup.

The best-of-seven Finals series between the Kings and the Beermen are back at square one, with the two SMC ‘sister teams’ winning a pair of games apiece. Game 5 of the title showdown is set Monday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Due to the unavailability of a suitable playing venue, the PBA Commissioner’s Office moved the fifth game of the Finals, with the coliseum booked for two separate events, with the WWE Smackdown set today and the UAAP opening weekend on Sunday.

Aside from winning the series opener (Game 1), 102-96, Ginebra also won Game 3, 116-103, while SMB took Games 2, 95-78, and 4, 106-104, Wednesday night at the Big Dome.

In their previous encounter, although the discrepancy in the rebounding department is not extreme (51-47 for San Miguel), the Beermen made a living with their 22 offensive boards which they translated into 23 second chance points.

“It came down to their offensive rebounds,” Ginebra mentor Jong Uichico said.

One particular play that best typified the Beermen’s prowess off the offensive board was when SMB’s Gabe Freeman, the Best Import winner, grabbed the rebound over Ginebra counterpart David Noel after a missed jumper by Mike Cortez.

Freeman then scored on a put back for the go-ahead basket, 103-101, with 26.3 left in the game.

The two American reinforcements are averaging 21.75 points per game in the series, but Freeman is winning so far in the rebounding battle with 17.75 boards, while Noel, the Slam Dunk king, had 11 per game.