It took quite a while, but when the real San Miguel Beer team showed up on Friday night, all pre-series hype surrounding the formidable Beermen proved true.
All of it.
After yielding Game 2’s first 17 points, the Beermen buckled down to work and went on to pound TNT KaTropa to smithereens, with a 102-88 victory not only knotting the best-of-seven series for the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at 1-all, but also putting a giant dent on the Texters’ previously high morale.
The final score is not at all reflective of how dominant the Beermen were in the last 42 minutes as unrelenting effort on both ends put the outcome of this one beyond doubt with still a full quarter left at Smart Araneta Coluseum in Cubao.
“After a bad start, the pride of my players was pricked,” San Miguel coach Leo Austria said with a mixture of Filipino as he acknowledged finally taking momentum in the series they were expected to dominate right from the very beginning.
And was San Miguel, because of the one-sided nature of the win, successful in dealing a blow on the Texters’ confidence?
“I think so,” Austria went on, though admitting that he would have wanted a narrow win. “I wanted to win by one point, because when you are beaten that way, you tend to bounce back hard. And we don’t want that to happen so we must be ready.”
Game 3 is set Sunday also at the fabled Big Dome and TNT coach Nash Racela will have the benefit of a fresh nucleus—in a way—after practically playing the final quarter with his aces on the bench.
Down 0-17, the Beermen were able to score just five points in the first six minutes but worked hard to make a game out of it, trailing, 24-32 at the end of the opening canto.
The Beermen then defended with impunity, holding the Texters scoreless for the first seven minutes of the second frame to scoot away.
San Miguel didn’t cool down a bit after the break, closing out the third period sitting on a 90-62 bubble TNT’s stars couldn’t come close to overhauling.
“I think we lost our focus and composure, especially in the second quarter,” Racela said resignedly. “This is the PBA, and the team that loses composure, normally, is the team that loses.
“We have to control our emotions, because things will not change,” he added.
Rookie RR Pogoy couldn’t control his and was ejected early in the third period for hitting Arwind Santos in the groin during a fastbreak play that highlighted the San Miguel breakaway.
He will surely be fined and could even be suspended for the critical third game, though Racela said that they would be ready.