Sizzling start by Brownlee, Kings

Looks like San Miguel will need another “Beer-acle” with the way the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings clobbered the Beermen at the start of their best-of-seven championship series for the 2018 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup.

While SMB coach Leo Austria dismissed the 127-99 rout as just one game of what has been expected to be a long and exciting series, the Kings looked overmatched against the Beermen, who trailed by 39 points and absorbed their worst defeat in the PBA finals in 11 years.

And with import Justin Brownlee proving unstoppable and the 7-footer Greg Slaughter posing a big defensive threat on the 6-10 June Mar Fajardo, the Beermen would need to be at their sharpest throughout the series to keep the title and stay on track for another title grand slam bid.

Experts may point to SMB’s never-say-die spirit and big fighting heart when the Beermen rallied from 0-3 down in the 2016 Philippine Cup title series against the Alaska Aces and set PBA history by sweeping the next four games to salvage the second of what is now a four-year all-Filipino championship skein.

But the Beermen didn’t have to contend with Brownlee then. And Fajardo, a cinch for a fifth Most Valuable Player award, is now up against Slaughter, who was in sick bay when SMB and Ginebra disputed the 2017 Philippine Cup championship.

SMB has a gem of its own in Renaldo Balkman, who teamed up with Brownlee in powering San Miguel-Alab Pilipinas to the Asean Basketball League championship last May.

Balkman, back with SMB after he was reinstated by the PBA early this year due to a temper outburst in the same tournament several seasons ago, outshone Brownlee in the ABL, but Justin is easily the better import this time.

Outscored by Balkman, 27-18, when SMB downed Ginebra in overtime, 104-97, in the eliminations, Brownlee came up with a scoring show with 42 points in the title series opener against Renaldo’s 27.

Brownlee humbled Arwind Santos, a mean SMB defender, with 18 points in the first quarter which was just two off the 20 the Beermen scored in the first period. And he could have easily surpassed the 44 he poured against Rain or Shine when Ginebra took a 2-1 lead in their semifinal series had coach Tim Cone not pulled him out for good with six minutes left and the Kings up at 117-80.

Slaughter also helped in holding Fajardo to 13 points from his average of 20.2.

Fajardo had a game-high 26 when the Beermen ousted the Aces in Game 4 in the semifinals, 104-99.

Cone said he was expecting a big fightback from SMB in Game 2 which was going on at press time. (SMB won, 134-109. —Ed.)

The Beermen also came back from a 21-point loss to the Aces in Game 3 of the semifinals, but then again, Brownlee and Slaughter were not around that time.