SAN MIGUEL VOWS COME BACK
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 22 Jan 2016
"It aint over, till it's over!"
Believing in the proposition introduced by New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra, San Miguel Beer coach Leo Austria yesterday vowed to bounce back from a big 0-2 hole his title-defending Beermen are in after two games of their best-of-seven series against the Alaska Aces for the All Philippine Cup championship of the PBA.
"The story of he conference is not yet finished," Austria declared on the eve of of the Beermen's Game 3 date with coach Alex Compton's Aces set at 7 p.m. today at the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena City.
"For as long as there's still a chance to win. we'll not lose hope, with or without June Mar (ace center June Mar Fajardo who didn't see action in Game 1 and 2 due to knee injury suffered in SMB's semifinal encounter with Rain or Shine.
And, according to Austria himself, he won't be fielding his prized 6-foot-10 behemoth, the heart-and-soul of his team's crown glory last year, unless he is 100% healthy.
A victory by the Aces moves the Wilfred Uytengwu-owned franchise to within anoher win to clinch the title. A situation Austria and the Beermen and even the SMB management wouldn't want to happen.
This is because, for the record, no team in the 41-year history of the first play-for-pay league in the country and in Asia has extricated itself from that giant 0-3 deficit in a first-to-win-seven series to win the crown.
For the record, too, the Beermen, have never won a best-of-7 series, much less forced a Game 7, after going down 0-2.
Reason why Compton is expecting the Beermen, whether Fajardo will play or not, to give their all in today's Lucena City showdown.
?We expect a real battle in Lucena,? Compton said. ?While it is a huge opportunity for us to really assert ourselves in this series, it is also a great opportunity for them.?
A piece of record does not sound good too for the Aces, especially since six out of 43 teams in the past still lost a best-of-7 series despite leading, 2-0, and three of them the Alaska team.
The Aces won the first two games of the series, 100-91, and, 83-80, both in struggling fashion. lt relied on a strong finish to prevail in Game 1 last Sunday, but had to depend on the breaks in Game 2 last Tuesday when the seldom-used Yancey de Ocampo gave Alaska's big men rough time.
The Aces also walked through the proverbial eye of the needle in Game 2, relying on big breaks in the last 57 seconds to win, 83-80, in a game where SMB?s Yancy de Ocampo, who pinched-hit for Fajardo, gave the Aces a pretty tough time only to miss a pair of charities at crunch time.
Fajardo's absence though is not the only problem confronting the Berermen and Austria. So are their point-guards, particularly Alex Cabagnot and Chris Ross, who both looked not to understand their respective role on the team.
Cabagnot, for instance, emerged the high-point man with 20 points and 23 points, respectively in Games 1 and 2, forgetting that his first option was to create situations for his teammates at the wing.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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