Brgy. Ginebra def Magnolia, 103-80 [SF Game 3 | Season 47 Comm’s Cup | Dec. 18, 2022]

It’s a series where no team has established control through 48 minutes of battle.

And Magnolia coach Chito Victolero sees it perfectly.

“That’s why it is called ‘Clasico’ — always a classic, you don’t know kung ano ang manyayari,” said Victolero, shortly after their 96-95 escape act versus the Barangay Ginebra King Friday night at the PhilSports Arena.

It was a squeaker for the Hotshots, an answer to the Gin Kings’ 87-84 grind-out win in Game One on Wednesday.

And thus the two teams are tied with a game apiece as they clash in the pivotal Game Three in their PBA Commissioner’s Cup best-of-five semifinal showdown Sunday in the same playing venue in Pasig.

Tip-off is at 6:45 p.m.

The Hotshots and the Kings resume fight for upperhand in a series that has been so very close that no team has led by more than eight points in each of the first two games.

The locals gutted it out in Game One. And even with the imports taking charge in Game Two, they seemed to just cancelled each other out, with the game boiling down to the very last possession.