MANILA, Philippines -- Barangay Ginebra point guard LA Tenorio became an eight-time PBA champion on Sunday night, when the Gin Kings overpowered the Bay Area Dragons in Game 7 of the 2022 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals.

Tenorio contributed 10 points and six assists in the Gin Kings' 114-99 triumph, which came in front of a record crowd at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan. Six of his points came in a crucial stretch late in the third quarter, when Tenorio knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to quell a Bay Area rally.

"No championship is the same. The winning feeling never gets old," said Tenorio in an Instagram post, Tuesday.

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The circumstances make this latest title just a bit more special for Tenorio. The point guard noted that it's his first for Ginebra without his fellow captains in Mark Caguioa and Joe Devance, both of whom stepped away from the game ahead of the season.

It was also his first PBA championship against a guest team, and it came while he endured an abdominal strain for the final three games of the best-of-seven series.

• GAME RECAP: Ginebra overpowers Bay Area in Game 7 to rule Commissioner's Cup

"With this one, in particular, the family sacrifices, injuries, pain and not to mention, the first one without my fellow co-veteran teammates like [Caguioa] and [Devance], as well as first against a foreign team...All together, [it] gave this one a different journey and a different fight, physically, mentally and emotionally," Tenorio wrote.

The veteran floor general sustained an injury late in the second quarter of Game 5, but pushed through the pain to play in Games 6 and 7. In the process, Tenorio maintained his Iron Man streak; he has now played 738 consecutive games in the PBA and has yet to miss a contest since being drafted.

It was touch-and-go for a while, however, with head coach Tim Cone declaring him "questionable" for Game 6. The coach later admitted that he did not think Tenorio would be able to play at a high level for the last two games.

"I told my wife after Game 5, I told my wife, I came home, I said, 'I don't think LA is going to be a factor in this series the rest of the way.' We're gonna have to find someone to step up and step into his place," said Cone. "His injury was too severe."

"But he got a lot of help from the trainers. We got an outside trainer to come in and help us as well. They were basically doing therapy 24 hours a day at his house, in the practices, everywhere, for the last three or four days, getting him ready. He looked so much better today, he moved so much better today than he did in Game 6," Cone said.

Given all he had to endure to lift the trophy, Tenorio said this latest title gives him "just a different sense of gratitude."

"Truly grateful and blessed to have a family who has been really supportive from day one. I always draw my strength from you guys," he added.

Tenorio previously won the 2010 Fiesta Conference with Alaska before getting traded to Ginebra in 2012, where he won the 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2021 Governors' Cup, the 2018 and 2022-23 Commissioner's Cup, and the 2020 Philippine Cup.

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