SMB draws first blood

A lot has changed since 2016.

A lot.

Playing with complete command practically all of Saturday night, San Miguel Beer established its will over Alaska in their best-of-five Final Four series in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup, taking a 92-79 victory at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay and putting the burden of making a comeback on the Aces.

“I think in a series, this is the most important game to win,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria, who engineered history when his Beermen roared back from a 0-3 deficit in the Philippine Cup best-of-seven series the last time these two proud franchises met. “[We need this] to dictate the tempo and to make them think hard on their adjustments.”

San Miguel’s Game 1 performance will surely befuddle the Alaska coaching staff to say the least, with Austria getting six players in twin digits as the Beermen led by as many as 19 points after breaking away at the start of the second period.

“I know Alaska will do more, this is not their game,” Austria said in paying respect to the enemy, which continued to play without Calvin Abueva and got just import Diamon Simpson and Vic Manuel shooting in twin digits.

“We’re expecting more from them and we need to tighten our defense [for the next games].”

This series has been hyped because of that improbable San Miguel comeback two seasons ago when everyone—except for the Beermen themselves—wrote the team off after losing the first three games of the all-Filipino Finals.

That comeback gave birth to the “Beer-acle,” which, judging from the way it played Game 1, doesn’t have a place in this series anymore.

“I addressed the team that we have a history against them (Aces),” Austria said of his pre-game motivational speech. “The players simply didn’t want to lose.”