For Renaldo Balkman, their drive was what made the difference on Wednesday evening, as the San Miguel Beermen finally put an end to their winless streak at the expense of Eugene Phelps and the Phoenix Fuel Masters.
The Beermen made their first win possible by wiping out a 13-point deficit early in the third frame through a spirited second-half surge, which culminated in a 17-1 rally that lifted them to a 103-89 lead with less than a minute left to play.
“It was our intensity.
“We started the game off slow. Every time you start a game slow, that is what will happen, you got to play comeback throughout the whole game. So at half time, we made our minds up and we came up in the third quarter,” said Balkman after the 106-94 win, where he dominated yet again as he pumped 35 points on 14-of-22 field goal shooting on top of 17 rebounds, four assists, four blocks, and two steals.
“And we came out and played with more intensity. And we locked in, we locked in. We played a hell out of a game tonight. It was great and we needed that win,” the Puerto Rican national team player added.
Even head coach Leo Austria lauded the way the Beermen made their way back in the game inside the last 24 minutes — obviously satisfied that the defending champions showed a lot of pride when needed the most.
“Makikita niyo naman noong first half, wala sa focus, walang energy until they realized na we’re in a situation na very dangerous situation eh, and nag-step up sila. Thankful ako sa players dahil umiral na naman ang kanilang pride,” he beamed.
After Wednesday, San Miguel have improved to 1-3, similar to the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel — definitely a weird situation for the defending champions, knowing that they have always been above the team standings for some time now.
But for Balkman, he’s confident that he and the Beermen will go up there once again, especially now that they have finally regained their groove.
“Every time you win a game, it’s always moving forward. When you lose, you have dark clouds over you and a lot of fingers are being pointed when you lose a game and sometimes, guys are in slumps,” said the 33-year-old.
“But when you win games, just like we did tonight, everybody goes to sleep tonight with clear minds. Tomorrow, we’ll practice with a smile and keep on trying to win games. That’s what we’re trying to do,” he pointed out.
“We’re trying to win the most games we can for the playoffs. But we got to take it one game at a time. We can’t win four games in one day so one game at a time and we’ll be back on top.”
