The year started out great for San Miguel Beer, which won last season’s first two titles. —AUGUST DELA CRUZ
For the second time in three years, San Miguel Beer’s inability to complete a triple crown generated the most buzz in the PBA.
And again, it was Barangay Ginebra that stood in the way.
“It is really, really disappointing to fall short because a chance was really there for us for the taking,” Leo Austria told the Inquirer.
“But suddenly a storm came. Suddenly our ship was no longer sailing smoothly,” he added.
That storm came in the form of a fracas that ripped apart the Beermen’s cohesion at a time they needed it most—during the last turn of the season, with the Grand Slam within reach.
Unlike in 2017, when the Gin Kings thwarted what looked like a gasping San Miguel bid in the third conference, the Beermen had a gem of an import in Dez Wells, whose scoring prowess and athletic ability injected a dose of energy into a squad that had been playing a full season.
San Miguel had already captured the Philippine and Commissioner’s Cups and its local crew was understandably battle weary. Wells was the solution, supposedly.
But with team unity ripped apart by a practice blow-up, Grand Slam dreams turned to smoke.
“People don’t know how hard it is, how lucky you have to be,” said Cone, who knows a thing or two about winning all three crowns in a season. He’s the only coach, after all, to have done it twice.
“You also got to be able to be injury-free,” Cone added. “You don’t lose an Arwind Santos.”
Santos, along with Kelly Nabong and Ronald Tubid, was suspended after the fracas that involved Wells, who also flew home not long after.
San Miguel Beer was never the same again in the Governors’ Cup.
Santos wasn’t the only one slapped with a much-publicized suspension.
Phoenix’s Calvin Abueva, already in hot water for directing lewd gestures toward a female fan, delivered a mean clothesline to TNT import Terrence Jones during a Commissioner’s Cup game. He is still serving an indefinite suspension.
Incidentally, Santos also got caught in a racially charged firestorm for an inappropriate gesture he directed at Jones, who tried, but failed, to lead the KaTropa past the Beermen in the Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
Santos bears the “Spider-man” moniker and during the Philippine Cup Finals, a fan dressed as Spider-Man (no relation to Santos whatsoever), stormed the court with an election-related reminder, hitting Beermen cornerstone June Mar Fajardo along the way.
San Miguel still won the All-Filipino, largely due to a powerhouse roster that gained added depth with the acquisition of spitfire guard Terrence Romeo.
And with Romeo adding his scoring flair to the potent Beermen crew, San Miguel Beer grabbed a lot of headlines as it stretched its dynastic run. But the busted Grand Slam bid was a shadow that hovered over the Beermen last year.
With the Beermen dealing away Christian Standhardinger for stretch big Mo Tautuaa, can the Beermen finally taste Grand Slam success this year?