Decorated head coach Leo Austria took full responsibility for the San Miguel Beermen’s downfall against the gritty Magnolia Hotshots in Game One of the 2018 Philippine Cup Finals, Friday evening at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Beermen had already been deemed to reign victorious the moment they led 72-52 in the third canto, but the defense-oriented Hotshots found ways to climb back and eventually stole their thunder, 103-105, for an early series lead.
“In a championship game like this and after leading twenty points, and then you end up losing the game, it’s very disappointing and frustrating,” said the reigning Coach of the Year after the match, visibly stunned.
“I guess na we fell in love with our defense because it gave us a lot of glory in the past few games namin. But, I was not able to react at the time when we needed to go back to man-to-man. And it’s my fault.”
Aside from the defensive lapse, Austria also rued his decisions in rotating players. He tried to get something from the bench, but they failed to show up, as the Beermen only had one bench point courtesy of Chris Ross.
Ross was off-the-bench in Game One as he is still nursing a strained right thigh. The all-around point guard played for over 19 minutes but still managed to collect three rebounds, two steals, and an assist.
“Maybe that’s the reason why we lost this game – lack of contribution from the [bench]. I’m trying my best to give them some time, but we’re leading and then nahahabol na kami. So, I have to bring back the starters,” said Austria.
“Even last season ginagawa naman namin ‘to. But our opponents did a good job on defending our big man, June Mar, on the post,” he added, as June Mar Fajardo, despite having 31 and 18, was forced to commit 11 turnovers.
The veteran bench strategist tipped his hat to the Hotshots’ stifling defense, which — aside from forcing Fajardo to commit a bevy of errors — only allowed the Beermen to score 14 points in the payoff period.
“The big factor is their defense in the fourth quarter,” shared the five-time champion tactician. “Especially they’re triple-teaming or double-teaming that time, and we’re not able to hit [our shots] from the perimeter.”
It wasn’t the way San Miguel wanted to start their four-peat bid, but for Austria, it was a “good wake-up call” for them.
“This is a good wake-up call for our team because from the start, I know na this is not an easy series for us — contrary to what we’ve heard and read on the newspapers na it’s an easy sailing for us in getting the championship.
“They’re really a contender because they’ve been consistently in the Final Four, and we’re able to beat them by just a single point in the eliminations. I know from the beginning that that team is really a contender,” shared Austria.
