Beermen wrest No. 1 ranking and will battle Bolts next
ANTIPOLO—San Miguel Beer has obviously shrugged off the disappointment of missing the playoffs in the last conference, and the Beermen are back to their fearsome self as evidenced by a 126-91 destruction of NorthPort for top seeding going into the quarterfinals of the PBA Philippine Cup.
And that rare time that the Beermen missed playing past the eliminations certainly lit a fuse in the team.
“San Miguel isn’t used to missing the playoffs,” CJ Perez, who scored 19 points, said. “And when it happened [last conference], we were totally disappointed, especially management.”
Behind Perez, San Miguel wrapped up the eliminations at 8-3, a major rebound from suffering an early exit in the Commissioner’s Cup. The Beermen finished tied with the NLEX Road Warriors and Magnolia Hotshots, but hold the superior quotient over the two teams.
Even if Barangay Ginebra goes on to win over Rain or Shine at press time to create a four-way logjam, San Miguel will still have the edge in the tiebreaker.
Being ranked first doesn’t mean that the Beermen will have some sense of security.
“We’re the top seed, but it doesn’t matter because all of the teams have improved,” Perez added.
That’s because up next for the Beermen is a tough quarterfinal series against the defending champion Meralco Bolts, who ended up at 6-5 to place eighth in the standings, which forced an early rematch of last year’s Finals.
It was actually around this time last year when Meralco completed its remarkable Cinderella title run by defeating San Miguel in six games for the franchise’s first-ever title.
Though there’s a perception of the Beermen having an axe to grind, there’s probably also a sense that it’s just a brand-new game.
Focus on defense
“They have a good system so we have to match their energy,” Perez said. “If we focus on our defense, then our offense will come. We have to improve our ball pressure, our transition defense because Meralco is a team that loves to run.”
NorthPort finished the conference at 2-9 in a disappointing sequel to its dream semis run in the Commissioner’s Cup.
The quarterfinals will start on Wednesday at Philsports Arena in Pasig City, with the matchups and schedule to be known after the Ginebra-Rain or Shine tiff.
With a victory, Ginebra will place fourth and will face No. 5 Converge, carrying a twice-to-beat bonus, while dropping Rain or Shine to No. 7 and needing to win two straight over second-place NLEX.
Rain or Shine will get twice-to-beat, however, if it ends up defeating Ginebra by at least 15 points.
