It was the Grand Slump—not the Grand Slam—that ended what had looked like an overpowering 2017 Philippine Basketball Association campaign by San Miguel Beer.
By absorbing back-to-back losses in must-win situations last week, the Beermen bowed out of the Governors’ Cup and blew a chance to give the San Miguel Corp. franchise, the oldest in the pro league, a record third three-conference championship sweep.
It was a sad exit for the Beermen, who won the all-Filipino Philippine Cup for the third straight year last March with a 4-1 win over Barangay Ginebra in the best-of-seven title series then nailed a second consecutive crown by topping the Commissioner’s Cup title playoffs at 4-2 at the expense of the TNT KaTropa last July.
So what went wrong?
Blame it on complacency, the same factor which Tommy Manotoc, who coached the now defunct Crispa to a second and last grand slam feat in 1983, had emphasized that the Beermen must guard against to pull off the sweep.
Before dropping their last two games to the Meralco Bolts and the Barangay Ginebra Kings, the Beermen had looked tentative and loose, showing only flashes of their unforgiving forms in the last two conferences.
SMB showed little of its fearsome status when Alaska, in the midst of a long slump dating back from the Commissioner’s Cup, pulled off a 90-79 rout in Angeles City for its first win in seven games in the tournament. Alaska coach Alex Compton said SMB’s fielding a new and ineffective import, Terik Bridgeman, in place of Wendell McKiness was the key for the breakthrough win.
The Beermen, playing all-Filipino most of the way, bounced back against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 103-96, in their next game. And with new import Terrence Watson, SMB seemed to have recovered from its import misadventure by slipping past Ginebra, which trailed by 26 and lost by four, 107-103.
Then followed two scrambling wins over also-rans Kia
(0-10) and Phoenix (2-9) that proved ominous. The Beermen had looked formidable once more by taking an 18-point, third-quarter lead over the Meralco Bolts in the final game of the eliminations, then collapsed in the stretch and dropped a 104-101 decision.
A win would have given SMB top spot in the quarterfinals and a twice-to-beat bonus. With the loss, the Gin Kings finished No. 3 and sealed a playoff with the Beermen, who wound up No. 6 and now needed to win twice to advance. The Kings wasted little time ousting the Beermen.
It was ironic that the coaches who turned the Beermen as the ninth team to miss the grand slam had given the SMC franchise its first two title sweeps. Norman Black, now with Meralco, scored first in 1989 followed by Tim Cone, the Ginebra mentor who won with San Mig Coffee in 2014. Ginebra and Meralco finished 1-2 here last year.
The best-of-five semifinals, now a showdown between teams owned by Ramon S. Ang and Manuel V. Pangilinan, started yesterday at the Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan, Laguna with Meralco facing Star. Defending champion Ginebra takes on TNT in the other semifinal duel starting Monday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.