Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
THIS is nowhere near the crisis San Miguel Beer survived—and how—when it captured the Philippine Cup over Alaska last February.
Down 0-3 in the best-of-seven title series with their top player and the reigning Most Valuable Player still in sick bay with a bum right knee, the Beermen managed to stay alive with two overtime victories.
Then the 6-foot-10 June Mar Fajardo returned to action still not 100 percent but good enough to help the Beermen pick up two more wins to become the first team in PBA history to sweep the last four games of a seven-game championship duel.
The Beermen are in a must-win situation again but a lot more is at stake this time. Aside from keeping their hopes alive for a possible grand slam and a third straight title since last year, they need to uphold their reputation as the top elimination qualifier of the current Oppo-PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
It would have been easy to ignore and dismiss the loss that sent the Beermen on the brink of an unceremonious exit except for the fact that the humiliation was administered by the Star Hotshots, who barely made it to the current playoffs as the eighth and last quarterfinalist and took a lopsided 117-98 loss to SMB in their first meeting.
The Beermen were heavily favored to easily get past the Hotshots again and take their expected place in the semifinals along with the Meralco Bolts, the No. 2 seed in the playoffs who earlier booted out the NLEX Road Warriors, 104-97, Monday.
But the Hotshots took advantage of the Beermen’s loose defense and lukewarm offense to hack out a 108-99 decision and force today’s winner-take-all duel.
Import Ricardo Ratliffe outscored Tyler Wilkerson, 33-22, after a 33-44 scoreline in their first meeting, Allein Maliksi and Peter June Simon kept shooting at will to finish with 23 and 22 points, respectively even as their celebrated teammate James Yap watched in street clothes still out of commission after a foot injury he sustained in the two teams’ first encounter on March 27.
Ratliffe capped a decisive 14-point barrage in the last five minutes from 87-89 with a putback basket to finish with a tournament high 29 rebounds that dwarfed the 14 of Wilkerson off both boards.
Star coach Jason Webb said luck will decide the do-or-die clash with SMB even as his rival mentor Leo Austria rued what he said was his poor record in the tournament, where SMB failed to survive the eliminations after a championship in the Philippine Cup in the 2014-2015 season.
In reaching the Final Four for the second straight year, the Bolts relied on the combined efforts of Reynel Hugnatan, rookie Chris Newsome, Jared Dillinger and Cliff Hodge in the second half with import Arinze Onuaku, defanged by an NLEX double-team, finally putting the game away with 27 seconds left with a followup for 98-94.
Defending champion Tropang TNT was gunning for a semifinal slot against Alaska in Game 2 of their separate best-of-three series at press time last night. Last year’s runner-up, Rain or Shine, joined Meralco in the Final Four after ousting Barangay Ginebra in the first game.
TNT prevailed 106-99 and Rain or Shine won 88-84 in the opening game of their series. If a series goes to Game 3, it will be held this Friday.