San Miguel head coach Leo Austria couldn’t offer much assessment owing to his frustration after the Beermen got sent packing by budding rivals Meralco in the 2022 PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinals, Friday evening.
The league’s winningest franchise could not replicate the 26-point comeback they pulled off in their last meeting 13 days ago, with Shabazz Muhammad far from the player that fired 57 points that night as he got limited to just 24.
And the Beermen eventually witnessed their season come to an end against a team that’s quite becoming their Kryptonite the past three seasons.
“I have no words to say regarding the game. I’m really frustrated because everybody’s expecting us to do well,” said the four-time Coach of the Year moments after their 85-100 loss at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“And really, it’s hard to figure out what really happened because we have a good game plan. And we’re not able to make some shots, we got a lot of turnovers, and we did not play our game,” Austria furthered.
The conference was undeniably a shaky one for San Miguel after undergoing major changes during the mid-season break, which saw them let go two of the ‘Death Five’ members in Arwind Santos and Alex Cabagnot.
Giving away those decorated cagers in separate trades got them Vic Manuel and Simon Enciso in return. But while they were all adjusting to those new guys, the team also struggled a bit in searching for the right import.
After playing with Brandon Brown for five games, SMB then went with Orlando Johnson. But it proved to be a short-lived partnership, as they brought in Muhammad after just a couple of games with the returning cager.
While sorting out their import situation, the Beermen welcomed two more new faces in Rodney Brondial and later on Jericho Cruz via free agency.
They managed to rack up the needed wins and even vied for a Top Four finish that merits a twice-to-beat edge, before ultimately ending up at no.5. Then came the bitter end of their campaign against the fourth-seeded Bolts.
For Austria, cohesion or the lack thereof was really the problem that led to San Miguel’s premature exit in the season – it is actually the third time in the last three seasons that the ball club won’t be playing in the semis.
Photo by PBA Images
“I know na those players naman e could help the team but I don’t know the effect. I love them in the team but it’s a matter of time e. I think ‘yung time ang kulang e, for us to be a very cohesive team,” he offered.
Austria isn’t really thinking much about the upcoming offseason, where the team has a chance to improve personnel-wise through the draft and free agency. For him, chemistry would be something he’d put a premium on.
“We’re not thinking of any of it because if you will think of the team ano, it’s almost complete,” the many-time champion mentor offered.
“It’s a matter of time to get the good chemistry because the old players, the mainstays, they’re trying to embrace them. And the new players are trying to adjust. Nasa stage of adjustment period,” he added.
“And sometimes I think ‘yun ang naka-affect because everybody wants to be nice with their teammates e.”
—
All PBA games stream live on GigaPlay. Download it now on Android or IOS.
The second game of each playdate is also livestreamed on SMART Sports.
