Aces, Beermen renew title feud

WITH A near impeccable semifinal run and a healthy lineup, Alaska looks set to get back at San Miguel Beer in their second straight championship showdown in the Smart Bro-PBA Philippine Cup that started yesterday.

Embarrassed by GlobalPort at the start of their best-of-seven semifinal series two weeks ago, Alaska bounced back with a masterful four-game romp that underscored its readiness to nail a breakthrough win for Alex Compton after losing in the finals of two of the last three conferences, both to San Miguel.

The 4-1 series win last week also rewarded the Aces with the luxury of more rest while San Miguel and Rain or Shine waged a hard battle in the other semifinal duel that the Beermen finally wrapped up in six games.

But the defending champion Beermen suffered a high price in hurdling the Elasto Painters.

June Mar Fajardo, the massive 6-foot-10 cornerstone of the Beermen’s game on both ends of the court, injured his left knee while bracing for a rebound midway in the third quarter and failed to finish Game 6. While the Beermen showed enough spunk and determination to finish off the Painters minus the reigning league MVP, Fajardo may not be fit enough to reprise his dominant role in the tournament in the championship playoffs.

SMB coach Leo Austria was thankful Fajardo only emerged with a swollen left knee after his collision with Jireh Ibañes in the fateful incident, but his playing status is “a game-time decision.”

But Austria acknowledged the fact that the Beermen face a very tough series against a team they barely survived last year. The title series went down to a Game 7 that San Miguel salvaged only through a scrambling three-pointer by Arwind Santos at crunchtime.

He added that the Aces have improved a lot and the Beermen didn’t have enough time to prepare for them this time.

The Aces, swept by the Beermen in four games in their title clash in the 2015 Governors’ Cup, own a 103-97 victory over the defending champions in their first meeting last Dec. 16, where Fajardo exploded for a season-high 43 points on top of 20 rebounds.

However, Compton also admits the Beermen won’t be easy picking minus Fajardo, noting they may even play even harder minus their go-to guy as shown by their strong finish in Game 6 to cap their 4-2 series win over Rain or Shine last Friday.

This is the eighth title series for the league’s two winningest clubs with Alaska holding a 4-3 edge. Tim Cone, now with the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings, guided the Aces to their last victory over the Beermen in the 2009-2010 Fiesta Conference, 4-2.

Game 2 of the season-opening conference is set tomorrow also at Smart-Araneta Coliseum in Cubao. Game 3 is scheduled Friday in Lucena and Game 4 (Sunday) at Philsports Arena. If necessary, Game 5 and Game 6 will be held Jan 27 and Jan. 29, respectively also at the Big Dome. If there’s a Game 7, it will be held on Feb. 3, a Wednesday, at Mall of Asia Arena.

Action resumes for the Commissioner’s Cup on Feb. 10 with 11 teams being allowed to field an import standing no more than 6-9 and Mahindra getting the lone privilege of tapping an import with unlimited height.