Mo Tautua’a wanted to repay his coaches’ trust, and he did just that by helping San Miguel move closer to returning from the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.
The seasoned big man proved to be the ‘magic bunot’ this time around. He made the most out of his starting gig by playing a key role in their 115-109 win to take Game 5 of their semis showdown with Ginebra, Wednesday night.
“We just all came out to play today,” he said shortly after the match at the SMART Araneta Coliseum. “We knew what we needed to do.
“Coach gave me a starting spot, and I needed to take advantage of that and make sure I proved them right in believing in me.”
Tautua’a finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, scoring 12 in the first half. His play helped the Beermen dictate the pace early, enabling the crew to build a lead as big as 17 early in the deciding chapter.
The 36-year-old shot an efficient 7-of-12 from the field, including one from the first arc, and also went a perfect 3-for-3 from the charity stripe.
With that, he became the latest to provide quality minutes for head coach Leo Austria. Tautua’a joins guys such as Don Trollano and Jeron Teng as those whom the brain trust relied on as an ace up their sleeve versus the crowd darlings.
(C) PBA Images
His commendable outing was proof yet again of SMB’s depth and its capability as well to find other sources of offense outside of June Mar Fajardo.
“June is definitely our catalyst in our offense, defense, whatever. But it’s not just gonna be him out there; there’s another four guys out, and we all gotta play together,” said Tautua’a, who’s been with the franchise since 2019.
It’s an advantage that the coaches can exploit any given night, including in this very series. Tautua’a himself has all the faith in Leo Austria and the staff in managing a team as loaded as they are.
“That’s definitely an advantage for us,” he said. “I really feel like it puts a lot of pressure on Coach ‘cause he doesn’t know who to play — like, Jeron stepped up in that other game, and there’s only one way to figure that out and you gotta feel the guys.
“So I know that Coach, he does have a hard job making sure he plays the players who are there that showed up,” he added.
“A lot of respect for him, he’s got a hard job. We’re winning so we just gotta keep trusting him.”
#WATCH: Leo Austria talks about San Miguel’s big #PBA50 Semifinals Game 5 win to close in on the Finals 🏀#ReadMore 👉 https://t.co/vSrEiO5oll
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— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) January 14, 2026
