TNT head coach Chot Reyes knows how difficult the task will be in facing San Miguel Beer in the upcoming 2021 Honda PBA Philippine Cup semifinals.
The top seed will play the very same team who handed them their lone loss thus far in the conference — a 67-83 beatdown in the elimination round last September 8 which the decorated mentor hasn’t totally forgotten about.
Photo by PBA Images
“San Miguel kicked our butt in the elimination round. It wasn’t even close,” recalled Reyes.
“They beat us and they beat us badly. We have our work cut out for us.”
That meeting actually saw the Tropang Giga score the game’s first two points, only for their rivals to respond with 18 consecutive.
Things turned from bad to worse from then on for Reyes’s wards, to the point that they saw themselves down by as deep as 27 late in the third.
However, the MVP Group’s crown jewel immediately bounced back two days later with a big 100-85 win over NLEX, before rolling past reigning champs Ginebra, NorthPort, and Alaska to finish with a 10-1 record.
That was their best finish since compiling a similar record back in the 2019 Commissioner’s Cup, where they went all the way to the Finals before bowing to, well, the Beermen featuring Chris McCullough in six games.
It was in that same season where the flagship SMC Â franchise won their unprecedented fifth consecutive Philippine Cup championship. And that adds to the concerns of Reyes heading into their best-of-seven showdown.
“We just beat the defending champions, but San Miguel is what, the five-time champion before Ginebra won it last conference,” said the 58-year-old, himself a former chief mentor of San Miguel for one conference in 2007.
At the forefront of that remarkable year for SMB was of course June Mar Fajardo, who went on to bag his sixth MVP plum after that season.
He missed last year’s bubble due to a shin injury he suffered back in February last year but he’s been in the fold since the new season started, and he’s been showing once again why he remains the Beermen’s most important piece.
The 6-foot-10 slotman, who’s visibly shed pounds, has been averaging 11.7 points and 9.2 rebounds as he’s churned out eight double-double performances thus far in the tourney. He also has 1.8 assists and a block to his name.
And so, he’s definitely another point of interest for TNT. Lead big man Troy Rosario knows the daunting challenge coming his way, but said that it would take a collective effort if they are to contain the Cebuano star.
“Para sa’kin, ‘di lang naman ako,” said the 6-foot-7 forward. “Kailangan ‘yung team defense namin, kasi ‘di ko kaya ‘yang June Mar Fajardo.
“Kasi sa laki ni June Mar, sa experience niya, talagang kakailanganin namin yung buong team para magkaroon ng chance sa kanila
