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After taking the much-needed rest, the Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants and the Sta. Lucia Realtors troop back to the battlefield as Game One of the PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven finals gets underway today at the Araneta Coliseum.
Basketball pundits believe that this championship series is expected to be a dogfight since the two protagonists both excel on sheer determination and hard work.
"My players are well prepared. I think we know what we are going to do in the Finals. And no matter how the series goes, short or long, as long as Sta. Lucia wins, it's okay," said Sta.Lucia mentor Boyet Fernandez.
"I respect coach Boyet,I respect their team as a whole. But at the end of the day, there could only be one winner," countered Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio.
Both teams made the finals the hard way, surviving two grueling series that wasn't decided until Game 7.
The Realtors ousted the Alaska Aces, 92-84,while the Giants edged out the overachieving Red Bull Barakos, 83-71.
The Barakos and the Aces, meanwhile, battle in the first game for the third place trophy.
The Realtors are just in their first championship series in the last seven years -- or since winning the 2001 Governors' Cup -- and has set foot on an All-Filipino Finals for only the first time in its 14-year franchise history.
For Fernandez, the championship stint would be his first as a coach.
On the other hand, Gregorio has already won two championships with Purefoods as head coach, the last of which came in 2006 when the Giants also ruled this very same conference. /Correspondent Calvin Cordova with PBA media Bureau
