Bay Area is gearing up for a ‘real challenge’ ahead as it crosses paths anew with San Miguel in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals on Wednesday.
The Dragons are coming in with the advantage following their 113-87 beatdown of the reigning champs during the elimination round. However, head coach Brian Goorjian is under no illusion that it will be another walk in the park.`
Simply because the guest team will battle a full-force Beermen this time around, with June Mar Fajardo and Terrence Romeo back.
“I think San Miguel isn’t the team that we saw in the regular season with Romeo on the team now, the big fella back,” offered the decorated mentor, “and, their overall depth. It’s going to be a real challenge for us.”
Both stars were out when the two teams clashed last October 16. Fajardo, at that time, was still recovering from the throat surgery he underwent – he was out for a month, missing a total of seven games because of that.
The league’s only six-time MVP was already in uniform in their matches versus Magnolia and Phoenix Super LPG in mid-November. But he only returned to action against Terrafirma on the 23rd, and has since been a fixture.
That Dyip game also marked the comeback of Romeo after being out for eight months due to a back injury, although he did not play until SMB’s final eliminations assignment versus Meralco just last December 2.
The three-time scoring king was quick to regain his groove back after such a lengthy layoff. Proof of this was his 22-point outing to help the Beermen sweep Converge in the quarters en route to completing the semis picture.
Romeo is averaging 15.7 points while Fajardo has per-game norms of 17.4 points and 12.3 rebounds thus far. Now, their solid play since going back into the fold will surely be a big boost for the repeat-seeking Beermen.
Though he knows that the ball club from Hong Kong will have their work cut out for them, Goorjian nonetheless feels excited about the best-of-5 battle.
The 69-year-old American felt proud to see Bay Area make it to the Final Four and to have a crack on the defending titlists makes it all the more gratifying for him.
“I’m just so excited that we’re in the top four in the PBA in our first year. Tremendous accomplishment. And, we get to step up to the plate and take a swing at the champs,” he said.
“I couldn’t ask for more.”
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
