The San Miguel Beermen really know how to work their way back from massive double-digit deficits.
In Game Two of their 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinal series versus the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters on Monday evening, the Beermen fought back from 29 points down and walked away with the 117-105 victory.
“This game is unbelievable,” said coach Leo Austria. “I’m really surprised at what happened. We’re down by 29 points, and all of a sudden, we’re able to catch up and take the lead.
“I really don’t know what transpired during the game.
“They [Rain or Shine] almost had a perfect game in the first 16 minutes. We’re down by 29 points, but I think nagising ‘yung mga players,” added Austria, whose side made a record 21 straight points in the second frame.
San Miguel also won their series opener two nights ago in the same manner. They overcame a sluggish 7-20 start to register the 111-105 victory thanks to the offensive exploits of import Chris McCullough down the stretch.
But however impressive those kinds of wins seem, the decorated bench strategist would rather his players not start slow only to play catch-up. After all, they’re now in the playoffs already.
“We have a slow start, and nd it’s almost always the case in our team. And if we will be in the playoffs or the Finals, it’s hard to have that kind of attitude,” Austria said.
“Because all the teams in the PBA are equally talented.”
“We can’t have the habit of being down [nearly] thirty points and expecting to win – especially in the playoffs,” seconded Chris Ross, who powered SMB in the Game Two victory with a career-high 34 points built on 10 three-pointers.
Game Three is on Wednesday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum, and a win would bring San Miguel back to the Commissioner’s Cup Finals after two years. Now, the Beermen hope they can address this issue by that time.
“Hopefully we could fix that going into the next game, because two games in, we had two bad starts, two slow starts. Hopefully, we could fix that and not make it so hard for ourselves,” the do-it-all Ross expressed.
“Kailangan namin mag-step up, kailangan namin i-shoot yung mga tira namin. Mahirap kasi maghabol eh,” said June Mar Fajardo, on the other hand.
“Sana next game, ‘di na kami matambakan. Ang hirap maghabol.”
