By REYNALD MAGALLON
If not for the controversial Game 1 loss, the Finals series could have already been over at this point. But San Miguel, instead of sulking on one corner, crying over spilled beer, let out all of its frustrations and won the next three games to take a commanding 3-1 lead.
And the same motivation should be what the Beermen are holding on to when they go for a gentleman’s sweep against the TNT Tropang 5G in Game 5 of the Philippine Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“I think the biggest impact is our first game, it fueled our grit and then you can see naman from the players na talagang from their eyes, makikita mo iyong fire. They want to win,” said SMB coach Leo Austria.
The prize, of course, is the all-Filipino conference crown, the most prestigious among the three PBA jewels – a reward SMB hopes to raise at the end of the 7:30 p.m. affair.
But Austria isn’t being complacent despite the big series lead with all the momentum on their side. For one, TNT is still fighting for the rare Grand Slam feat and he is not expecting it to easily give up.
And to overcome that, SMB needs to have the same killer instinct the veteran mentor believed his charges displayed in the 105-91 Game 4 win.
“I always tell them to have a killer instinct. When it comes to the end game, you should not give up and that’s what happened. We kept reacting to what they were trying to do against us,” he added.
Expected to lead the charge for SMB is 12-time Best Player of the Conference winner June Mar Fajardo along with his bridesmaid finisher to the race in CJ Perez.
At this point, the Beermen also have the superior bench with guys like Jericho Cruz, Don Trollano and Juami Tiongson all capable of contributing to the other starters in Mo Tautuaa, Chris Ross and Marcio Lassiter.
In contrast, the Tropang 5G need to power through the injuries to Poy Erram and Simon Enciso to hopefully extend the series to another game.
Its banged-up stars in RR Pogoy, Calvin Oftana and Jordan Heading also must bring their A-game while guys like Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, Glenn Khobuntin, and Kelly Williams should continue to provide quality minutes.
