San Miguel celebrates return to the PBA Finals. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
San Miguel may have emerged victorious, but it proved to be costly win for the defending champion.
June Mar Fajardo went down with a left knee injury as the rest of the Beermen held on and nailed a 90-82 win over Rain or Shine Friday at Smart Araneta Coliseum to take the semifinals series, 4-2, and advance to the 2016 Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup Finals.
READ: PBA: Fajardo stretchered off the court after injuring knee
The injury to the two-time PBA MVP put a damper on San Miguel’s return to the finals.
The Cebuano giant, who carried the bulk of the scoring cudgels in the first three games, suffered the injury with seven minutes left in the third quarter on a rebound play against Jireh Ibanes amid a Beermen comeback.
San Miguel complete the fightback from 15-points down in the first half, 41-26, stunning the Elasto Painters from that point forward and holding a 15-point lead of their own, 82-67 with 7:35 still left to play.
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Rain or Shine still tried to recover and got to as close as four, 86-82 after a pair of Beau Belga free throws with 31.9 seconds left, but Chris Ross and Marcio Lassiter put the finishing touches as the Beermen set a rematch against longtime adversary Alaska in the best-of-7 championship duel to begin on Sunday.
Lassiter paced San Miguel with 22 points and five rebounds, while Arwind Santos stepped up big in the absence of Fajardo down the stretch, finishing with 15 markers and 19 boards.
“It’s obvious that the team was very happy with this win, but I’m sad with what happened with June Mar. It’s part of the game and it’s unintentional,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.
READ: Fajardo shrugs off hard fouls: ‘I don’t care, I just want to play’
Fajardo had 14 points and 12 rebounds in the game. He will be under further observation at St. Luke’s in Bonifacio Global City.
“From the start, we knew this Rain or Shine team is tough to beat. I’m glad that everybody stepped up, unlike in the first half na we looked like we have no energy,” Austria said of the comeback. “Na-realize ng mga players na there’s no more June Mar and they have to step up.”
With the Aces now lying in wait, the outspoken coach is welcoming the worst and is hoping that his Beermen can sustain their run should Fajardo be unable to suit up for Game 1.
READ: Rain or Shine plans to give Fajardo ‘hell’ for 7 games in semis
“With this win, we’ll see what will happen in our next game. We don’t have the time to rest, but in the Finals is really something that we are proud of. It’s going to be hard, but we’ll try our best to have a good series against Alaska,” said Austria. We hope it’s nothing serious but we have to face it. Meron pa naman kaming buhay eh.”
Belga led a wounded Rain or Shine squad with a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Gabe Norwood got 14 markers and seven boards. Jewel Ponferrada also got 14 in the defeat.
The Elasto Painters sorely missed the services of Paul Lee, who was dealing a swollen left knee, the same knee he nursed for the whole conference.
Rain or Shine also had to deal with coach Yeng Guiao absent for the first one and a half quarters after the fiery coach was stuck in traffic.