SMB Head coach Leo Austria. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Only one thing comes to San Miguel Beer coach Leo Austria’s mind when he thinks of Rain or Shine, their Final Four foe in the Smart Bro-PBA Philippine Cup.
“If there’s any team out there that can really whip us, it’s Rain or Shine,” Austria told the Inquirer in Filipino Fridat, admitting that even during the holidays—with the Elasto Painters still to play two games—he was already prepping to square off with them.
“I didn’t even think twice when I read the [playoff] pairings that they were in our bracket,” Austria said. “Immediately, I started preparing for them already, even if they were still going to play in the quarterfinals [against Blackwater and TNT later].”
The defending champion Beermen finished in a tie for first with eventual topnotcher Alaska after the elimination round. But one of their only two defeats came at the hands of the Painters.
“We have to be able to stop their transition offense,” Austria said as their best-of-seven series starts Tuesday at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay. “And their three-point shooting will be a problem for us.”
Austria elaborated on why he thinks Rain or Shine’s outside guns will be giving them fits.
“You can’t leave even their big men open from there (three-point range),” he said. “Each and every player in that lineup can knock down the three-point shot. It will be a major concern for us.”
Paul Lee sees action for the first time this season for the Painters, giving coach Yeng Guiao an added threat from inside and out and what Austria says is “a solid crunch time player, one they can go to in the stretch.”
San Miguel’s advantage looms large, all 6-foot-10 of him.
June Mar Fajardo, the reigning two-time Most Valuable Player, will again lead the Beermen, and Austria made sure that he and his staff were able to manage their cornerstone’s condition for these playoffs.
“There are times when we even had to ask him to stop participating in practice,” Austria said. “We were able to use the break to get some of our injured players well, like June Mar and Marcio (Lassiter).”
Austria said Fajardo is still being bothered by the injury that kept the talented slotman out of the Gilas Pilipinas roster last year.
On the other hand, Lassiter is expected to have fully recovered from an injury that has kept him in and out of the San Miguel roster the entire conference.
“The bad thing about our long layoff is that the players have been out of the game,” he explained. “Good thing this is a long series. It will still be all about adjustments [every game].”
“We expect to struggle in the first few minutes, or even the first couple of quarters [of Game 1] because of our two-week layoff,” Austria went on. “We might not be as fluid. But we will be OK.”
Aside from the Rain or Shine lineup that is loaded in all fronts, Austria is also wary of his match-up with Guiao.
“He’s so good in making adjustments. I have the highest respect for coach Yeng,” he said.
“You can beat his (Guiao’s) team today, but in the next game, you can be sure that you’ll be facing practically an entirely different team. That’s how good he is,” Austria added.
Austria is so on his toes that he ordered practice for the squad right on the first day of the new year so as to be able to have three solid days of workout before tip off at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
His Beermen will come well rested for the series, while Rain or Shine was able to sharpen its tools with those extra two games.
With Rain or Shine and Guiao really hungry for their first All-Filipino crown, and Austria knowing why the Elasto Painters are capable, this series is expected to go down the wire.