Backed into a corner, Beermen out to fight harder to extend PBA finals
San Miguel may be on the brink of losing its Commissioner’s Cup crown, but the Beermen know the finals is far from over.
It’s all or nothing for San Miguel in Game 6, though, after the Gin Kings escaped with an 87-83 win Sunday night, the first time in this series that the game was decided in under 25 points, to take a 3-2 series lead.
“It’s not over yet, right? Each one of us said that we survived being down 0-3, and this time our opponents are only up one game,” said Santos in Filipino Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.’
When backed into a corner, the Beermen still look back to their unprecedented Philippine Cup title run where they returned from a 3-0 series deficit and stunned Alaska to take the championship that has been dubbed the “Beeracle.”
That conquest has equipped the Beermen with the composure to fight through deficits.
“We’ve been in it before, we’ve been in this position before and we know that this is nothing new, we got to come out harder,” said Lassiter who had 13 points, three rebounds, three assists, and four steals.
“It’s going to be hard on Wednesday for Game 6 because Ginebra played a good game today so we got to come out even harder and be prepared more,” added Lassiter.
Santos said their second straight loss, which came right after they won two consecutive games, should serve as a motivational slap going into the sixth game.
“I know we’re hurt because we lost this one but this should serve as a wakeup call, we have to bounce back in Game 6,” said Santos who had a miserable Game 5 with just two points, both of which came from the free throw line after he went 0-of-10 from the field.
