Austria admits Beermen lacked any effort in Game 4 loss

San Miguel Beer head coach Leo Austria said the effort shown by the Beermen wasn’t enough to win Game 4 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals.

It wasn’t even enough to give them a chance.

San Miguel paid a hefty price for its lack of effort as Ginebra raced to a 17-0 start en route to a 130-100 to level the series at 2-2.

“Before this game, he (Tim Cone) kept on saying that we’re too good for them and we’re too strong for them, but that’s not true,” Austria told reporters on Friday night. “He’s right before that his team is the only team that can beat San Miguel and it was very evident tonight.” 

READ: Tim Cone left ’embarrassed’ by Ginebra’s 38-point loss to San Miguel

“What I noticed is that what is lacking for us is effort. If you have effort you have to outwork your opponent. This night the effort was with Ginebra and that’s the key,” he added. “That’s what happened in Game 2 and Game 3, we had a lot of effort but now it’s their turn.”

The Gin Kings, who were manhandled the last two games by an average of 31.5 points, including a 38-point beating on Wednesday, at one point, took a 38-point lead in the fourth quarter in just an absolute domination of the Beermen, who never really threatened.

“I think with that bad start it’s hard to beat any team especially in the finals,” Austria admitted.

READ: Brownlee: Ginebra needs to ‘come out and fight’ after Game 3 blowout 

Ginebra had eight players with at least seven points led by newly-minted Best Import Justin Brownlee’s 37 points and just scored whenever it wanted to.

Greg Slaughter added 19 points, outplaying reigning four-time MVP June Mar Fajardo, while Joe Devance and LA Tenorio had 18 and 17 points, respectively as the Gin Kings shot 64 percent from the field, including 13-of-24 from downtown.

Austria again turned to his team’s lack of effort as the reason for Ginebra’s potent offense while also adding that complacency also played a part.

READ: PBA Finals: Brownlee, Ginebra tie series with 30-point rout of San Miguel

“I think it’s the effort. No effort to do the things we’ve done in Games 2 and 3, but you cannot blame them. You’re ahead 2-1 and sometimes it’s the nature of a team to become complacent,” he said.

“They thought after the two blowouts in Games 2 and 3, it’s going to be easy to win the next game but Ginebra lived up to its billing of never-say-die and that’s what happened.”