TIME TO CELEBRATE
The confetti had barely settled when Alfrancis Chua stepped into the spotlight and took the opportunity to slide in a last laugh after a drama-filled PBA Philippine Cup championship series against TNT.
“San Miguel, we can finally celebrate. We’ve got four,” he declared, flashing four fingers as the Beermen closed out the series, 4-2, with a 107-96 win over TNT in Friday night’s Game 6.
The jab wasn’t just about the championship count. Chua’s words were a subtle response to the friction that brewed throughout the series, particularly when TNT team manager Jojo Lastimosa had criticized San Miguel’s exuberant Game 4 celebration, calling it premature, even disrespectful.
The Beermen took a 3-1 series lead there. TNT stayed alive with a Game 5 triumph but by Game 6, there was no question who the party belonged to.
Jericho Cruz, one of the players singled out by Lastimosa for “showboating,” had his own wordless response. He posed with his pregnant wife and two children next to the Jun Bernardino Perpetual Trophy, having just been named Finals MVP.
Chris Ross, who also got into Lastimosa’s skin, was drinking a can of Pale Pilsen while giving Cruz his flowers.
“Little boy that—Finals MVP!” Ross shouted.
Cruz was pivotal in San Miguel’s title run. His energy and shot-making helped erase the sting of a frustrating Game 1 loss, when Mo Tautuaa’s would-be game-winning dunk was wiped out by a basket interference call.
“That Game 1 loss really fueled us,” Cruz said. “It reminded us to treat every game like it could be the last.”
For the Beermen, this title was more than a celebration—it was redemption.
Austria to the rescue
Last year’s Finals heartbreak against Meralco, sealed by Chris Newsome’s buzzer-beating baseline jumper, still stung. June Mar Fajardo, who walked away from that series holding the second-place trophy, had not forgotten.
“Whenever I see that second-place trophy at home, it pushes me to work harder,” he said of that trophy, the only item in his growing collection of individual trophies and plaques associated with failure.
San Miguel missed the playoffs in the Commissioner’s Cup, struggled with import changes and only found its rhythm after Leo Austria’s return to the bench.
Cruz and some of his teammates described the championship as a “sweet feeling” and will have a quick chance to savor that again, as their defense of Philippine Cup will get a quick start in October. The all-Filipino tournament will be the kickoff conference to the league’s landmark 50th season.
TNT, meanwhile, was left to contemplate another near-miss. Chasing a Grand Slam, the Tropang 5G battled through a grueling, record-tying 75-game season, only to fall two wins short. They will be compared to a horse that was denied of the American Triple Crown. This was the second time TNT had been denied a sweep of the season’s titles—both times by San Miguel.
As the final buzzer sounded, Calvin Oftana and RR Pogoy sat quietly on the bench, nursing both injuries and what-ifs. In the locker room, TNT owner Manny V. Pangilinan offered words of consolation.
“Our heads tonight are bowed in sorrow, but not shame,” he told them. “There is nothing shameful in your performance.”
