Beermen ‘won’t back down’ from KaTropa after intense Game 3

Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Just like the Incredible Hulk, the San Miguel Beermen are a different animal when they’re angry.

Arwind Santos himself noted that heated confrontations, like what happened in halftime of Game 3 of the 2017 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals against TNT on Sunday, just lights a fire under the Beermen, making them more driven to claim the win.

“That’s the good thing about this team when we’re angry. We remind each other that it’s okay to feel that because we don’t want to lose,” he said in Filipino. “If our opponents want that kind of game, we’ll give it to them but we won’t lose focus on what we want to achieve.”

Tempers flared late in the second period when TNT stand-in import Mike Myers and Governors’ Cup reinforcement Michael Craig jawed at Chris Ross.

“Those guys, they keep talking to me and I don’t know why,” shared Ross. “The guy told me he’s playing next conference, I said I’m not worried about the next conference I’m worried about the game right now.”

Emotions escalated during the halftime break, where the two imports allegedly pushed a metal railing that hit San Miguel governor Robert Non and some of the Beermen staff who were on their way to the dugout. Both denied the accusations against them.

Nonetheless, the scuffle seemingly fueled the Beermen in the third quarter as they came out hot en route to a 109-97 Game 3 win and a 2-1 series lead.

“We won’t back down from them,” said SMB head coach Leo Austria.

Ross echoed Santos’ sentiments and said that heated confrontations “kind of gets our juices going.”

“It’s kind of like waking up a sleeping dog or something. We’re just trying to play basketball and when they start to do things that we feel that aren’t basketball, we kind of turn it up the notch,” he said.

June Mar Fajardo said it’s San Miguel Beer’s poise given that the Beermen have a lot of experience being in pressure-packed situations.

“We’ve been together for so long and the chemistry is already there. We’re locked in on what we wanted to do and we know what to expect from them after we won Game 2,” he said.

Ross, though, hopes the Beermen won’t have to wait for such instances before coming to their senses.

“I hope we can get to that level where we can just play at that level from the beginning. That will be good for us. But as long as we got that extra level to go through, it’s always good,” he said.