Suddenly favored

Maybe Magnolia is not the underdog after all.

Having won five of its last games in the PBA Philippine Cup, counting Finals opener, Magnolia shoots for a commanding 2-0 lead over reigning champion San Miguel Beer in their race-to-four series Friday at Smart Araneta Coliseum, where all pre-series hype has been thrown out the window.

Tip off is at 7 p.m. with the Hotshots looking to cash in on the lessons they’ve learned for over a year. After all, they have been an entirely different team since last facing the Beermen in the grandest PBA stage.

“It has been a learning experience for us. But as I’ve said before, the series doesn’t end in this (first) game,” Magnolia coach Chito Victolero said. “We know that San Miguel will try to mount a comeback and we’ve learned from that (from last year).”

Magnolia threw a defensive blanket on June Mar Fajardo’s supporting cast in Game 1 to carve out a 99-94 win and take great momentum into the second game.

The Hotshots would, of course, try to change what happened last season, where they also won the series opener only to lose the next four.

“It’s [imperative] for us to settle down and again prepare hard for this game,” added Victolero.

Last season, the Hotshots took back-to-back lopsided losses after that Game 1 win. Game 4 was close before they suffered a meltdown in overtime of Game 5.

Now coming off a championship run in the Governors’ Cup, and toughened up by the character-shaping playoff victories over crowd darling Barangay Ginebra and second-seeded Rain or Shine, the Magnolia mentor hopes he and his charges are experienced enough to counter the Beermen’s overwhelming advantage in manpower.

“[Through all that], we’ve improved in terms of maturity,” Victolero said. “Our core group has grown a lot and our chemistry has never been better.”

“We were down against Ginebra 0-1 (in the quarterfinals and we won the next two (games),” he said. “We were down 0-2 against the Elasto Painters, and we won the series. Those are some of the experience we’ve brought into this.”

Fajardo faced a relentless Magnolia defense but still came away with 35 points in Game 1. He will need his supporting cast to step up for the Beermen to take control and pull even in this series.

“Their maturity is incredible,” said Fajardo in Filipino. “As we’ve been saying before, they’re good in closing out games. So as far as indication goes, this is not going to be easy.”