2026 PBA Commissioner's Cup finals

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel

Following a semifinals exit on 2025–26 PBA Philippine Cup, Barangay Ginebra first traded Ben Adamos to the Terrafirma Dyip for Kemark Cariño in a mid-season break trade. They also brought back Justin Brownlee for the Commissioner's Cup.

They started the Elimination round with a win over Macau Black Knights and a loss on NLEX Road Warriors. After 2-2 following a loss on San Miguel Beermen, they went to go on a 5 game winning streak, only to be halted by Meralco Bolts. After 2 wins on Rain or Shine and TNT, they secured the 2nd seed following tiebreakers applied.

In the playoffs, they crushed Phoenix Super LPG in the quarterfinals and advanced to semifinals against Rain or Shine. After losing Game 1, they took Games 2 and 3. After losing by 12 points in Game 4, Barangay Ginebra took Games 5 and 6 in a hard fought series to advance to the finals.

TNT Tropang 5G

After a run to the Philippine Cup finals, TNT made some changes by adding Avan Nava, Justin Chua, and signing rookie Sean Quitevis out of Ateneo.

They also paraded former NBA center Bol Bol as a reinforcement for the Commissioner's Cup.

In the opener of their campaign, they lost to Rain or Shine in an unexpected manner where Glenn Khobuntin and Jaylen Johnson were ejected after a brawl late in the 4th quarter. TNT would go win in the next two games against NLEX and San Miguel but would lose to Meralco. TNT would go on 3 game winning streak against weak teams, only again to be stopped by Converge in an upset. TNT would go 1-3 in its final 4 games of the eliminations, including a 3 game losing streak and 53 points of Bol against Phoenix, but fell short, which ended their elimination round campaign in 8th seed with 6-6.

In the Quarterfinals, they upset the top seeded NLEX in 2 games. In the semifinals, they faced Meralco for the second straight conference. TNT took Game 1 in a hard fought game. However, tragedy struck when Bol Bol, their import, tore his ACL in the first quarter, which forced them to play all-Filipino the rest of Game 2, but again, they would lose, thus tying the series 1-1. In Game 3 was an all-Filipino line-up where they miraculously won thanks to Roger Pogoy's game winning three pointer to take Game 3.

In Game 4, they paraded former SMB import and champion Chris McCullough. However, they lost. TNT would take Games 5 and 6 in a hard fought manner, thus booking their ticket to the finals as the 2nd team to make the finals as 8th seed since the Powerade Tigers back in 2012.

Road to the finals

Head-to-head matchup

Game 1

The 8th seeded TNT started the game leading 4–0. Barangay Ginebra responded back and takes the lead for the most of the first quarter and all of the second quarter before taking the biggest lead of the game at 64-46, where TNT starts to make a comeback and retake the lead by 1 in the fourth quarter, 91–90.

RJ Abarrientos of Barangay Ginebra scores two four-pointers in crunch time to retake the lead, but RR Pogoy of TNT ties it at 100. Justin Brownlee scores a two-point game winner with 0.6 seconds remaining, and eventually steal Game 1 from TNT after Calvin Oftana tries to make a shot in 0.6 seconds but missed. Meanwhile, TNT coach Chot Reyes called for a foul on Oftana's shot.^[6][7]

Game 2

TNT held a 22 point lead in the second half before Barangay Ginebra mounted a comeback in the fourth quarter with a 16-6 run. TNT head coach Chot Reyes was heavily surprised on Ginebra's comeback attempt. However, the comeback of Ginebra was unsuccessful as Calvin Oftana scores two free throws to deny Barangay Ginebra a comeback, tying the series.^[8]

Game 3

Game 3 of the Commissioner's Cup Finals marked 18,607 fans attending the game, setting the record for the highest attendance at any venue for the league's 50th season. Justin Brownlee of Barangay Ginebra lead the team with 41 points while Stephen Holt scored 23 points and Scottie Thompson registered a triple double with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. The trio help Barangay Ginebra avoid a 22-point comeback of TNT. Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone didn't think that everyone realizes how difficult to lead the game early and keep it throughout the game.

Chris McCullough of TNT scored a conference-high 44 points, the highest-scoring performance of any player in the Finals since the 46-point game of Meralco import Allen Durham in the 2016 Governors' Cup Finals, though it wasn't enough to claim the lead to TNT.^[9]

Game 4

Prior to the game, Barangay Ginebra's Justin Brownlee claimed his fourth Best Import of the Conference award while his teammate RJ Abarrientos won his first Best Player of the Conference award.^[10]

After the awarding of the Best Import and Best Player of the Conference, Barangay Ginebra wanted to win the fourth game for a triple celebration for the night. However, TNT had other plans. Jordan Heading would score five three-pointers, while Chris McCullough scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half. TNT's defense tightened significantly, where Barangay Ginebra only has a shooting percentage of 35.7 in the third quarter.^[11]

Despite Justin Brownlee's 32 points and Ginebra's late rally that cuts TNT's lead down to as low as 6 points, it wasn't enough to complete a comeback, and TNT would turn the Finals into a virtual best-of-three.^[12]

Game 5

Justin Brownlee of Barangay Ginebra scored his career-high 54 points, the highest since Tony Harris of Swift Mighty Meaty Hotdogs, where he scored 58 points in an overtime loss over San Miguel Beermen in Game 3 of the 1993 PBA Governors' Cup finals.^[13] Troy Rosario missed an alley-oop off the inbound play with 0.6 seconds in regulation, which prompt the game to overtime, but his team wins in overtime to get an inch closer to the Commissioner's Cup title.^[14]

Game 6

With the Commissioner's Cup season on the line, TNT, as an 8th seed, fought hard to force a seventh and deciding game. TNT import Chris McCullough scored a massive 53 points and 22 rebounds, while Justin Brownlee of Ginebra scored 52 points, just a point behind McCullough, following his 54-point game in Game 5. However, he is the only one in the team that hits double figures, with Troy Rosario only scoring 9 points.

TNT will now try to become the next 8th seed to win a championship heading to a do-or-die game.^[15]

Game 7

With TNT trying to win the championship as an 8th seed, TNT took control on the first half and until 56-63, where Barangay Ginebra would go on a 12-0 run to retake the lead after gaining a lead at least once in the first half. TNT would miss several shots in the final quarter, which led to Barangay Ginebra winning their first PBA championship since 2022-23 Commissioner's Cup, where they defeated a now-defunct guest team, Bay Area Dragons in 7 games. With 19 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists on his Game 7, Scottie Thompson was named Finals MVP. ^[16]