Fajardo: San Miguel can’t start flat again

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net

San Miguel may have won handily in Game 2 of the 2017 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals, 102-88, on Friday, but June Mar Fajardo remains wary against a motivated TNT side ahead of Game 3.

“We didn’t expect this. But TNT is a strong team so we have to focus on our game plan for the next game,” he said in Filipino.

Though San Miguel equalized the best-of-seven series to one game apiece, Fajardo noted that there are areas of concern for the team.

The biggest fault in the Beermen’s game was their lackadaisical start, where they fell to an early 17-0 hole before Arwind Santos came off the bench and spurred the rally.

“That’s one thing. We can’t start flat in the first quarter. If we could go hard, we should go hard immediately. We’re just lucky we still got the win,” he said.

Fajardo, though, commended San Miguel’s defense after that forgettable six minute-stretch to open hostilities.

Locking down on defense after that sluggish start, the Beermen reversed the roles in the second frame, holding the KaTropa scoreless for seven minutes as they grabbed the lead and never looked back.

“We had a better defense and it’s credit to my teammates,” he said. “They saw that I’m having a hard time defending TNT’s import and they helped me. Our coaching staff had a good adjustment, and kuya JayR (Reyes) and kuya Yancy (de Ocampo) taught me on how to defend the import better.”

After two games, Fajardo knows the series is bound to be a chess match and San Miguel is expected to also make adjustments to be in a better position to snag the all-important Game 3 on Sunday.

“We were able to adjust from what they did in Game 1, so we expect them to do the same for the next game. We’ll see what we can do more for Game 3,” he said.