SONNY Thoss (right) of Alaska thwarts a shot by San Miguel Beer swingman Chris Lutz in Game 2 of their Philippine Cup championship series. AUGUST DELA CRUZ
FOR SAN MIGUEL Beer and Alaska, their best-of-seven title showdown for the PBA Philippine Cup has been nothing short of a battle of attrition, with the Beermen keeping their poise in Game 2 and winning convincingly to tie the series Friday night.
To say that the series has been a physical one is a gross understatement, but both teams know that playing for the season’s most prestigious crown will not only take great play on the court, but a level head that would give one an edge over the other.
Arwind Santos ended the game with a huge plaster in his forehead to stop a nasty gash courtesy of a wayward Calvin Abueva elbow; bodies were sprawled on the court all night and tempers flared on several occasions with even the San Miguel ballboy getting into the action—physically.
“The atmosphere is going to be like this,” San Miguel coach Leo Austria said after a 100-86 Game 2 win that had his Beermen breaking loose in the fourth quarter. It was San Miguel’s first win in three matches against Alaska in this conference.
“This is good for the fans,” Austria said.
Obviously, commissioner Chito Salud thinks otherwise as the protagonists of the physical plays were summoned to a meeting this morning, hours before the Beermen and the Aces break their 1-1 tie at 5 p.m. at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
“I just thought that when we took some cheap shots that we lost our focus a little bit,” Alaska coach Alex Compton said. “We have to be smarter than that.”
San Miguel found holes in the Alaska defense practically the whole of the second game, scoring 27 more points than its average output against Alaska for the conference.
The Beermen scored just 63 points in an elimination round loss, were held to just 82 in an overtime defeat in the series opener. But on Friday, San Miguel already had 82 points with still over nine minutes left.
“If that [San Miguel] team scores 100 points, we’re going to have a tough time,” Compton said.
Abueva and Santos, San Miguel’s David Semerad, Ronald Tubid and a ballboy and Alaska’s Vic Manuel and Dondon Hontiveros were asked to appear before Salud this morning.