Bay Area is beatable.
Coach Leo Austria offered such a take after San Miguel outlasted the top seed in Game Three of their PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinal series Sunday night, which ultimately kept the reigning champions’ campaign alive.
“This is an indication na Bay Area is beatable, as long as we play hard, we play as a team both on offense and defense, and then define the roles of the players,” he said shortly after the Beermen’s 98-96 win at the Philsports Arena.
It was SMB’s breakthrough win over the Dragons after losing in their previous three assignments, two of which were the first two games of their best-of-five semis affair that put the perennial contenders in a precarious position.
“They beat us three times — in the eliminations, and the first two games,” recalled Austria, who coached in his second game back after missing seven matches due to health and safety protocols.
They actually came close to upending the dreaded guest team from Hong Kong in the series opener last Wednesday, where they established a 16-point lead but failed to protect as much and went on to lose by a point.
The following game was a far cry from that but Game Three saw the Beermen go at par once more with their foes, eventually bagging home the victory behind the heroics of Simon Enciso and Devon Scott down the stretch.
Enciso hit the go-ahead three while Scott blocked Kobey Lam on the other end, which also enabled San Miguel to end the fiery seven-game winning streak of Bay Area that dates back to the elimination round.
It isn’t lost on Austria, though, that repeating in Game Four will be easier said than done. But the four-time Coach of the Year knows that his men have now grown confident that they can go toe-to-toe with the Dragons.
Pride is also in play, he added.
“It’s really tough for us, but I think, our players, pride ang umiiral dahil we’re up against a foreign team. It’s a good challenge for them. Win or lose, as long as we’re fighting for the pride of the Filipino people, so we’re okay,” Austria said.
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
