Chris Ross believes that San Miguel’s near-upset of Bay Area in the opener of their PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinal series should have brought more confidence to the team that beating the top seed is actually achievable.
Not the other way around.
The veteran guard offered as much shortly after the Beermen absorbed a 114-95 mauling from the guest squad Friday night — a match totally far from Game One a couple of days ago, where the latter escaped by just a point.
“No, not at all,” Ross told reporters when asked if Wednesday’s 103-102 defeat affected the perennial contenders’ morale in Game Two.
“More so than anything, it let us know that we can beat them.
“We pretty much dominated them the whole game — well, for 44 minutes, and we ended up losing. If anything, that game should’ve given us the confidence that we can really beat this team,” the 37-year-old added.
Looking back, SMB appeared to be on its way to stunning the favorites by establishing a lead as big as 16, only to allow the Dragons to come back and snatch the win behind the heroics of Hayden Blankley and Kobey Lam.
Of course, the Beermen were expected to once again start strong for seemingly having devised an effective game plan against the visitors, but their foes gained momentum in the second period and shifted the game in their favor.
Bay Area led by as many as 21 points, eventually cruising to the victory that also spoiled the comeback of San Miguel head coach Leo Austria after missing a total of seven games due to health and safety protocols.
Ross said that the reigning champions simply have to get their act together in time if it wants to stay alive in the mid-season conference, for they could no longer afford to lose one more game in the best-of-five series.
Sure, San Miguel has proven that it could go back from series deficits as deep as the one it got into that led to the ‘Beeracle,’ but reverting to their usual play would definitely be key to keeping their hopes up, according to the vet.
Game Three is on Sunday.
“We gotta get back the way we’ve been playing,” said the two-time Finals MVP, who’s gunning for his 10th PBA championship. “Tonight wasn’t how we’ve been playing. We’re putting our energy in the wrong places.
“We’re not focusing on the things that we need to do to beat this team because this is a really good team. We’re a really good team also, but we’re not focusing on the things that need to be done to win this ball game.”
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
