The ultimate chess match continues at the Big Dome on Sunday night
With the series at knotted at 1-all, it’s now up to TNT head coach Nash Racela to make adjustments to stop the locals of the San Miguel Beermen. And it all starts with regaining their lost composure.
“I think we just lost our composure in the second quarter. In the PBA you just have to keep it close every time. We were up, they came back, [and we] gave them the lead,” recalled Racela, who is making his PBA Finals debut. “And in the third we lost it again.
“More than the defense of San Miguel, I know they have a scheme against Joshua [Smith], but more than the scheme of San Miguel, it was… Well the problem really was how we reacted to all the other things.”
During Game Two, things got physical between both squads, highlighted by a light scuffle between former FEU Tamaraws Roger Pogoy and Arwind Santos. Moreover, a total of 61 fouls were called compared to 48 in Game One.
San Miguel led by as much as 32 points in the game, limiting Pogoy to a scoreless night while Jayson Castro and Smith struggled, shooting 5-of-14 and 3-of-8 from the field respectively.
The Beermen though have yet to find their touch from downtown in the series. San Miguel, a team that shot 34.4 percent from deep during the elimination round, is shooting 13-of-54 (24 percent) from that range in the series so far.
“That’s something na we have to consider during our practice dahil we cannot get the ball to our big man if we cannot hit from the three-point area, but of course, we should concentrate on our post offense also,” said San Miguel head coach Leo Austria about their horrid shooting from deep.
Moreover, Austria hopes that they can sustain the defense that led to their 102-88 win.
“I hope ma-sustain namin ito.
“It’s a game of adjustments. We will see kung saan kami mag-aadjust ulit dahil hindi pwedeng makampante kami sa game namin ngayon. This is a parang chess match, keep on guarding them, talagang bantayan namin sila kung anong gagawin. Maybe after watching the game on tape siguro, we will know kung saan kami pupunta,” the four-time champion coach shared.
