San Miguel just couldn’t make the shots it usually makes.
Simple as that.
June Mar Fajardo offered as much after the Beermen failed to add up to their series lead in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup semifinals following a 99-88 defeat to Meralco in Game Two of the best-of-seven affair, Friday.
“Nagmimintis lang ‘yung mga shots namin na usually nashu-shoot namin. Last game nashu-shoot namin. Ngayon nagmintis lang,” offered the six-time league MVP moments after the loss at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Fajardo himself led the way for SMB with 22 points and 17 rebounds in an outing that saw him 50-percent from the floor. But that decent shooting of him, unfortunately, did not rub off on the entire team.
They shot just 38.2-percent from the field, including an 8-of-27 clip from beyond the arc — indeed below the standards of a team that makes 35-percent of its threes. Furthermore, they missed a total of 10 free throws (22-of-32).
That was a far cry from their Game One showing last Wednesday, where they shot a whopping 57.9-percent in the 127-91 victory — a match that saw them tear apart a Bolts side coming off a grueling quarters clash with Ginebra.
San Miguel was actually still in it late in Game Two thanks to Fajardo, but couldn’t muster enough momentum the way they did in the third quarter that saw them take a 54-51 lead briefly no thanks to Aaron Black and Co.
Black had 15 points and five rebounds.
Fajardo, though, knew that it will never be an easy series against the same team that has beaten them multiple times since 2017, especially in the playoffs, and so bouncing back in Game Three is the only thing he’s focused on.
“Maganda ‘yung adjustment ng Meralco sa second half. Credit sa Meralco. Mahabang series ‘to, hindi naman namin ine-expect na magiging smooth-sailing yung series,” said the Cebuano star, the current BPC race leader.
“Bounce back na lang kami next game.”
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
