INCHING CLOSER
Game 3 will be a tough act to follow, and the key for San Miguel Beer—as it chases a 3-1 lead in its PBA Philippine Cup title series against TNT—is to not fall in the same situation it was in last Sunday.
With a two-game winning run in the best-of-seven Finals, and having all the momentum they need going into what many see as the swing game of the series, the Beermen will try to tighten the noose on the Tropang 5G when they battle again at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
San Miguel actually bungled early control, and needed to come back from 89-86 down inside the final 50 seconds three nights ago to gut out a 95-89 win.
The Beermen needed two shots from CJ Perez to make that happen, a four-pointer and then a triple, and the odds of that happening again—no offense to one of the greatest scorers of this time—certainly don’t look enticing at all.
“I may have struggled in the first half, but my coaches’ trust in me never wavered so I just responded,” Perez said in Filipino as he and June Mar Fajardo again form San Miguel’s 1-2 punch in the 7:30 p.m. contest.
Coach Leo Austria also praised Perez’s fortitude.
What could have been
“Knowing CJ, I know he wants to win and I never prohibited him from shooting from any part of the court,” Austria said after that game, where his swingman totaled 20 points after going a perfect 6-for-6 in the fourth period. “For as long as it’s a good shot and for as long as he needs to shoot it.”
For the Tropang 5G, it was simply a case of what could have been as they trail in the series for the first time, and they will play with pressure on their side.
“We had that one,” guard Rey Nambatac had said in Filipino. “Those things really happen. Knowing SMB, they don’t give up that easily. Whether we lead big down the stretch or not, whether we run and take momentum, they’ll bounce back.”
Coach Chot Reyes, meanwhile, rues bad starts in Games 2 and 3 as the reason they are trailing.
“We went down early [in the last two games] before rallying,” Reyes had told reporters as he made his way out of the Pasay venue. “That must change in Game 4.”
Meanwhile, the Best Player of the Conference (BPC) award will be handed out before tip-off, with the 6-foot-10 Fajardo widely tipped to land a 13th BPC citation and add to his growing collection of individual accolades.
The 36-year-old, who has won the season MVP a record nine times, leads the field in the statistical points race with an average of 44.3, with Calvin Abueva of ousted Titan Ultra trailing by a big margin with his 41.2 SPs.
And the fact that Fajardo is still playing at this points in the tournament and all the others in the top five—Abueva, Juan Gomez de Liaño and Justine Baltazar of Converge and Zavier Lucero of Magnolia—makes the San Miguel gentle giant a shoo-in for the award.
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