Two down, one to go

Leo Austria. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net

Leo Austria knows exactly what’s at stake but he’s trying very hard to get the thing out of his mind.

After San Miguel Beer took the first two PBA jewels of the season with ease, talk of the league’s sixth Grand Slam is now at its loudest. Austria’s battling Beermen gun for the Triple Crown starting July 19, hoping not to stumble at the last hurdle like some similarly capable teams in the past.

“For me, it would be just another tournament, another championship to be won,” says the famously voluble mentor whose Beermen blew TNT KaTropa away, 4-2, in the highly physical Commissioner’s Cup Finals recently. “That should be the team’s mindset.”

Austria acknowledges that the pressure on his Beermen will be tighter from hereon and it would be his job to get the team going at the right time. No one from among his players has been in the position to shoot for a season sweep before, even though they have dominated the last three seasons with five championships in the last eight conferences—all under him.

“I’m just blessed to have the players that I have,” Austria says.

Import Wendell McKines will shoulder part of the load for the Beermen in the Governors’ Cup, reputedly the toughest one to win—akin to winning Belmont Stakes, the terribly unpredictable final jewel in the US Triple Crown horse racing calendar.

Interestingly, the last PBA franchise to fall at the last hurdle and fail to complete the Grand Slam was Talk ‘N Text, which fell to the Beermen, 85-73, in a Game 7. A powerhouse at that time, that TNT crew was handled by Chot Reyes, also the head coach of Gilas Pilipinas.

Several other sweep bids crashed and burned at the last gasp, with the Robert Jaworski-led Toyota failing in the PBA’s first season in 1975. Bitter rival Crispa went on to win the next four conferences and secure the first Grand Slam in 1976 under the late great Virgilio “Baby” Dalupan.

For the record, there have been five season sweeps. Crispa, under coach Tommy Manotoc, became the first team to repeat, in 1983, before it left the league. San Miguel achieved it in 1989 with a star-studded team built around four-time MVP Ramon Fernandez, before Alaska accomplished the feat seven seasons later behind a heady guard named Johnny Abarrientos and the Triangle Offense of coach Tim Cone.

Cone became the first coach to win all three conferences twice after steering San Mig Coffee to the Slam in 2014. That squad will go down in history as the least dominant from among the “slammers.” Much of the credit belonged to Cone who guided and goaded the Mixers as they dodged numerous knockout encounters all season long on their way to the three titles.

This season’s batch of Beermen is like a herd on a stampede, waylaying foes whenever it desires to. According to the pundits, however, this mindset could work for or against the squad.

“The first thing the Beermen have to guard against is complacency,” says Manotoc, who follows the league ardently. “They’re still the best team out there, make no mistake about it, but being the best team doesn’t necessarily mean it can win the championship every time.”

Manotoc believes that, despite every team enjoying the same privilege as far as imports go, San Miguel still has the advantage. “If McKines can fit in right away, he will make that team stronger,” he says. “And with all teams having imports of the same size, San Miguel can still go to its bread-and-butter, June Mar Fajardo.”

Austria acknowledges that he has the best local core in the league, a collection of stars that has won the last three seasons’ all-Filipino Philippine Cup. “My players also know how to win,” he says. “They know the glory of winning championships. That will be important for us [in the Governors’ Cup].”

Alaska, under Cone, also had a shot at winning a second Grand Slam in 1998, but the Milkmen (as they were then known) came to grief after giving away their nucleus to the Centennial Team that played in several international tournaments that year.

Sunkist, under Derrick Pumaren, also missed the Triple Crown in 1995, when the Orange Juicers failed to make the Third Conference Finals. Alaska won that crown in a thrilling seven-game series over San Miguel.

Tanduay and Great Taste, both defunct, also had their shots at the Slam but blew it all in the third conference. The Rhum Masters finished fourth under Turo Valenzona in the season ender, better remembered as the breakthrough tournament for Ginebra San Miguel and its enigmatic playing coach Jaworski.

Great Taste also lost the third conference in 1985. Handled by Dalupan, the Coffee Makers and the rest of the field were simply no match for guest amateur team Northern Consolidated, coach Ron Jacobs and naturalized players Chip Engelland and Jeff Moore.

Manotoc also feels that San Miguel’s one great advantage coming into the last tournament is its array of topnotch locals. “The familiarity of the players with each other is beyond question,” he says. “They can turn it on whenever they want. We all saw it in the last [championship] series.”

The Beermen, however, have to guard against the very thing that spoils championship celebrations in every sport. “They have to pray that injuries stay away from their team, especially the key players,” Manotoc says. “Otherwise, they could be on their way.”