ANTIPOLO — Coach Leo Austria admitted that he imagined another ‘Beeracle’ taking place when San Miguel sent Ginebra to a decider after losing the first two games of their PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup best-of-5 quarterfinal series.
It was the consensus among some fans and observers alike, for the comeback evoked memories of their miraculous 2016 Philippine Cup Finals run, in which they rallied all the way down from 0-3 to beat Alaska in seven for the title.
But it’s quite unfortunate that fate was not on their side this time, with the Kings denying their rivals’ shot at replicating history on Tuesday night.
“I thought the Beeracle that we did before could happen again,” he said moments after their 110-94 Game 5 defeat at the Ynares Center here.
That historic run, never seen in professional basketball at the time, was brought up again when SMB took Games 3 and 4 to force a rubber match.
And they appeared to be on their way to pulling off a ‘Beeracle 2.0’ when Austria’s charges took a 76-63 lead during the third behind George King, who caught fire from deep and scored nine in a 12-2 run to build that cushion.
However, the classic ‘never-say-die’ spirit began to show up gradually, and things would turn from bad to worse for San Miguel.
Play was stopped late in the same period when June Mar Fajardo got wounded on his left eye following an inadvertent hit and had to be subbed out.
That proved to be an opening which the opposition took advantage of, to the point that they garnered enough rhythm to put together a fiery 19-0 run to break a deadlock and turn it to a 101-82 Ginebra lead with 5:40 to go in the fourth.
“Nagsimula nung kay June Mar,” said the decorated mentor of the moment they began to wilt, which allowed their foes to come up with a 38-6 assault in total from down 13. “Nagkaroon ng cut, nawala siya, nasira ‘yung chemistry sa loob.”
(C) PBA Images
It also didn’t help that King himself fouled out of the ball game at the 5:13-mark shortly after he stopped the bleeding for his side with a jumper, leaving the traditional powerhouse with no choice but to play all-Filipino all the way.
The former Blackwater import left the game with 31 points, six rebounds, three assists, and four steals as his quest for a semis breakthrough continued.
“Five minutes pa lang ‘yun pero makikita mo na ‘yung trend eh. They had all the confidence, and ‘yung morale namin bumagsak na dahil alam naman namin na it’s only George King who can limit the production of Murphy,” Austria rued.
“But they got him into foul trouble eh. Sa umpisa pa lang, dalawa na. And you can see naman in the game, ‘yung mga foul niya pwede i-let go as an import.”
But it’s not just Fajardo’s brief absence and King’s predicament that doomed San Miguel, with Austria pointing out the huge disparity in free throws.
Ginebra was given 30 bonuses from the line and made 27, with Jordan Murphy himself going 15-of-16. The Beermen shot just 7-of-8 the entire night.
“Si Murphy 15, kami eight. Total nila 30, kami eight. Laking discrepancy,” said the 68-year-old bench tactician. “Maybe because they were aggressive, but there were a lot of calls na… especially on George King, mga foul niya.”
Because of this litany of things, SMB missed the semis for the second straight time this season, making it a long offseason ahead filled with reflections.
“That’s why I told them I’m really disappointed with this season because after two championships in the All-Filipino, we got booted out in the quarterfinals by Rain or Shine,” Austria said, referring to the Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup.
“And then, this time. We had a chance, especially since we were no. 1 in our group. But I think Ginebra did a good job in containing our big men, especially June Mar and George King. Things like that happen, eh,” he added.
“But credit to them, Ginebra; they did not give up, they kept on fighting, and then we lost our composure.”
