MANILA, Philippines—Winning never gets old.
If anything, it’s highly-addictive and staying in a trance has always been the goal for star guard Alex Cabagnot and rest of San Miguel Beer.
“The hunger [to win another championship] is always its always there. I think that’s the curse of winning. The more you win, the more you wanna feel it and the more you don’t want to feel losing,” said Cabagnot shortly after winning his eighth PBA title Wednesday night at Araneta Coliseum.
“So when people say, ‘How do we keep the hunger?’ I think if you’ve won anything, you wanna continue winning. You don’t wanna feel [satisfied].
Every championship run is memorable but tough losses, too, are not easy to forget.
Even in a state of bliss and the whiff of beer still emanating from the winning locker room, Cabagnot still has San Miguel’s stinging finals loss to Barangay Ginebra in the 2018 Commissioner’s Cup at the top of his head.
That loss to the Gin Kings in six games was the Beermen’s only defeat in eight finals appearances under head coach Leo Austria, but one loss was enough to light the fire under their belly.
Iit’s a tough defeat when we lost to Ginebra in the second conference last year. We felt it. We stepped it up. we just had to do due diligence and make things happen.”