Character win
ANTIPOLO—San Miguel Beer may have fallen short of securing the No. 1 spot in Group A despite its come-from-behind win over NLEX on Wednesday. But coach Leo Austria hopes the manner in which the Beermen pulled off the victory will benefit them come playoff time.
“I told the team, ‘Let’s play to win. Whatever happens, it’s not our problem anymore who we’ll be facing in the quarterfinals,’” Austria said after the 135-133 win at Ynares Center here.
The Beermen entered the contest needing to win by at least 15 points to finish first in the group, but that became a tall order when the Road Warriors built a 20-point lead early in the fourth quarter—giving the Beermen more to worry about than just the margin of victory.
But Don Trollano, June Mar Fajardo and import George King led the Beermen’s fightback to secure the win as San Miguel finished tied with NLEX at identical 9-3 win-loss records.
NLEX and San Miguel split their two meetings in the group stage, but the Road Warriors won the tiebreaker with a superior quotient.
San Miguel finished second in Group A and will face the No. 3 team from Group B in the crossover quarterfinals, a best-of-five series that starts on Sunday.
At press time, the Beermen could face either Magnolia, Rain or Shine, Phoenix or Barangay Ginebra, but Fajardo remains steadfast in his belief that they are up for the challenge regardless of the opponent.
10,000th point
“We will prepare harder because things will be different and the intensity is very high during the playoffs,” Fajardo said.
Magnolia will be out of the mix if it beats Rain or Shine at press time, as a victory would give the Hotshots the top spot in Group B.
Fajardo secured the victory on the same night he became the 19th player in league history to reach 10,000 career points, achieving the milestone late in the first quarter with a turnaround hook over Dave Marcelo.
It was the latest individual accomplishment for Fajardo, who has his sights set on another championship despite a potentially difficult road ahead for San Miguel.
NLEX, meanwhile, still emerged as the No. 1 team in Group A and will face the No. 4 team from Group B, which could be Rain or Shine, Phoenix, Ginebra, Meralco or, in an unlikely scenario, Blackwater.
Like San Miguel, NLEX sees no reason to worry about the uncertainty surrounding its potential opponents.
“It’s tough because we still don’t know who we will play yet,” coach Jimmy Alapag said. “Of course, we have to wait for Friday. But we will just prepare and anticipate that we will play on Sunday until we know otherwise.”
“And I think that’s all we can do right now, just prepare for any scenario,” he added.
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