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Shell grabs All-RP finals slot
by Ernesto Gonzales

Shell Azodrin turned Ginebra San Miguel's monumental collapse in the last quarter into an 89-76 rout last night and advanced to the championship playoff with Great Taste in the All-Filipino conference of the Philippine Basketball Association at the UL Arena.

The heavily-favored Ginebras scrambling under the intense-pressure of this rubber match before a turnaway crowd of 15,000, scored only five points for 8:30 minutes of play in the final period and the Bug Busters roared beyond recall, 78-61.

But the unexpected foldup did not take the shine from the stirring triumphs of the Bug Busters, who start their best-of-five series with the Coffee Makers tomorrow again as the ranked underdog as they have been through the series.

The league's newest franchise actually underscored their worthiness as title contenders in the third quarter when they moved out of a close, bruising game to take a 61-56 lead despite lapsing into penalty trouble.

"Unbelievable, I can't believe that we're there," said Shell coach Freddie Webb, who is in the finals for the first time with a club built around seven veterans and five rookies after a forgettable stint with Tanduay two years ago.

He said he does not expect Great Taste to pull off a 3-0 sweep of the playoffs. His main concern he said is on loosening up in defense on Ricardo Brown but preventing his teammates from scoring.

William Adornado, held to 19 points when Ginebra forged this rubber match Thursday with a 101-93 victory, scattered 30 points and Rey Lazaro, the discard from Tanduay unloaded 10 of his 18 points in the final quarter, six of them as Shell opened a 78-61 lead with 3:34 remaining.

"It was our lousiest game in the series. We just couldn't keep going." said Ginebra playing coach Robert Jaworski.

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The PBA Shell Team's Formation:

First Trip to the All Filipino Finals