Witnessing Chris Newsome erupt for a career-high in Game 4 of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals on Wednesday night hardly concerned San Miguel.
Wanting to give his team the commanding 3-1 lead, the Meralco star poured 40 big points on 12-of-16 shooting from the field.
He also collected six rebounds and four assists in the 41 minutes and 17 seconds he was on the floor.
But all that went for naught as the Bolts bowed to a Beermen side that gained depth with the return of Vic Manuel and Terrence Romeo – plus, of course, the inside presence of newly-minted 10-time BPC June Mar Fajardo.
“As long as the rest don’t score, we’re fine,” said head coach Jorge Gallent shortly after their 111-101 victory at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
While SMB had plenty of weapons that helped reduce the series to a virtual best-of-3, the same, unfortunately, can’t be said for Meralco.
(c) PBA Images
Sure, usual suspects such as Chris Banchero (21 points) and Cliff Hodge (17 points, 10 rebounds) did their thing – but the others went MIA.
Bong Quinto, for one, got held to just six points on eight field goal attempts after dropping 16 points back in their Game 3 win last Sunday.
That victory also saw Raymond Almazan finish with a big double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds, but only had two points and three boards.
Allein Maliksi, on the other hand, had nine points but the veteran hasn’t scored in double digits since making 15 markers in the series opener last June 5.
Brandon Bates was on his way to a good outing with four points, six rebounds, and three blocks but the rookie big man fouled out. Ditto with Hodge.
All that were enough reasons for Gallent and Co. to stay unalarmed, and they surely want to limit the others like that again come Game 5 on Friday.
“He (Newsome) had his 40, but we kind of stopped the rest of them,” said the seasoned mentor, as their defense also enabled his team to breach the 100-point mark for the first time in this best-of-7 battle.
“Very happy about that.”
