The San Miguel Beermen didn’t have the ideal start they wanted in the 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals after getting blown out by a well-oiled TNT KaTropa team, 96-109, in Game One of their best-of-seven series Sunday night.
For Beermen head coach Leo Austria, his chargers have yet to recover from the semifinals.
The Beermen only had one day of respite from their series with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters which they closed out last Friday, unlike the KaTropa who had two days as they finished Barangay Ginebra San Miguel last Thursday.
“We didn’t have time to prepare, and we’re surprised with what happened today. Physically and mentally, we’re not yet [doing well] because we’re not yet able to recover from the exhaustion that we got from our series in the semifinals,” he said.
San Miguel still managed to trade baskets with TNT, and even had a 19-17 lead in the first quarter. Unfortunately, the KaTropa then found their groove and unloaded an overwhelming 20 straight points to take a 37-19 lead, seconds into the second frame.
That would be the start of a one-sided affair that saw TNT lead by as many as 23 points a couple of times.
The decorated bench tactician liked how they started the game, but he rued that a miscommunication between San Miguel and the table officials at the start of the match disrupted their game plan.
Staff announced that Christian Standhardinger would be the Beermen’s starting center but officials said it should have been June Mar Fajardo, causing a delay in tip-off. Fajardo then took the Fil-German cager’s place.
“Well tinawag kay Christian Standhardinger. I don’t know what’s wrong with the table officials. And then sinabi nila si June Mar ang nandun sa starter nila, pero ang tinawag nila Christian Standhardinger. So we have to follow what they want for us.
“That’s what they want eh. We planned for Christian to start because we just want to contain yung kanilang running game at the start, plus they want to outrun June Mar at the start. But I don’t know kung anong totoo dun,” he said.
That proved costly for San Miguel, Austria admitted. It put their defensive plan in disarray, and that allowed the opposition to knock down their outside shots.
The KaTropa eventually finished with 13-of-38 shooting from beyond the arc.
“I think we’re successful in the first five minutes or six minutes, but the problem is nagkaroon kami ng substitution so we forgot to execute what kind of defense we’re going to do. And because umulan ng tres eh,” Austria said.
Besides the outside shots, Terrence Jones also caused major problems for the Beermen. The TNT import was nothing short of brilliant on both ends, as he had 41 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, three blocks, and a steal.
“But the problem is that they have Jones na nag-take over,” Austria lamented.
Game Two of the best-of-seven series will be on Wednesday, August 7, which gives San Miguel two days to recover. For Austria, they will use this break to regroup and see the kind of adjustments they have to make.
“We have to regroup. So we will see what really happened and we have to adjust what kind of necessary adjustments we have to do.”
