Coach Leo Austria. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel Beer head coach Leo Austria on Sunday took the blame following another major meltdown by the Beermen in the 2015 PBA Philippine Cup Finals against the Alaska Aces.
After blowing an early 22-point lead to lose Game 1 in overtime, the Beermen appeared to haven’t learned from their mistakes with a 78-70 loss in Game 3 despite taking a commanding advantage late.
“First of all, I would like to let you know that this loss by San Miguel is my full responsibility,” Austria acknowledged during the post-game presser. “This is my fault. I was not able to control the game.”
The Beermen took a 61-40 lead with 2:10 left in the third quarter and were still leading by 18, 64-46, entering the fourth period.
But San Miguel Beer turned the ball over six times and shot 1-of-15 from the field in the final frame alone while Alaska went on a 20-1 run in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter that keyed in the victory for a 2-1 series lead.
Austria insisted that he’s taking “full responsibility” of the loss but he also said that the game was “beyond my control” as he again rued his team’s turnovers.
“This is my responsibility and I’m the one in charge of that but we lost because of a lot of turnovers in the fourth quarter and because of the good defense of Alaska and it’s beyond my control of what happened on the court,” he said.
“I thought all the while we prepared hard and we know the situation but I’m not the one playing inside the court so all I can do is remind them of what to do. I keep on telling them but still we committed turnovers,” Austria added, referring to his players. “Maybe that’s a factor. And in the end-game, you cannot expect a call from the referee even if there’s a foul because this is a championship game and we committed a lot of costly turnovers.”
Aside from the turnover department and their poor field-goal shooting in the fourth quarter, the Beermen were also beaten off the boards in the last 12 minutes of the game.
The Aces out-rebounded the Beermen, 21-8, with energetic forward Calvin Abueva having more rebounds with 10 in the fourth period.
“They’re the ones controlling the game and all I can do is let them run my plays. They’re running it but most of the time, the entry pass that’s when we turn the ball over. That’s beyond my control anymore. We’re trying to get the ball to June Mar in the shaded area but it didn’t get there,” said Austria.
“I keep telling them what to do. We’ve been playing [against Alaska] for four times so we know what they have been doing and what we’re doing and we know what kind of plays we’re going to run but inside the court I cannot control them anymore,” said a seemingly frustrated Austria.
Arwind Santos led San Miguel with 20 points but was scoreless in the fourth quarter. Reigning MVP June Mar Fajardo only had 13 points and nine rebounds as the Aces continue to make him work harder for his shots.
Again, Austria turned to his team’s carelessness with the ball as the main concern that needs to be addressed with another big game fast approaching.
“If we turn the ball over, it’s easy for them to come back into the game especially Alaska. They have a lot of talented players. They know the game, they understand the game and they have veterans there and they know what the situation is and they smell blood. They got the opportunity and in our part we panicked.”
In the wake of another collapse, Austria won’t wave the white flag just yet.
“This is a long series and we’re capable of winning three or four consecutive games and we displayed that in the semifinals and this team has the potential considering we’re able to lead by 20 points.”
“It’s just up to us but I can only do so much.”