The return of June Mar Fajardo (right) has revitalized San Miguel. —PBA IMAGES
There’s no bigger motivational tool than a heartbreaking loss. Just ask San Miguel and Magnolia.
The Beermen and the Hotshots are now a win away from making the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals, and both clubs point to their untimely playoff exits last season as their foremost inspirations to do well this time out.
“We all know what happened. It all boiled down to a last shot,” said Chito Victolero, shortly after taking down Rain or Shine, 81-70, on Sunday at Don Honorio Ventura State University in Bacolor, Pampanga.
Magnolia was one of the hottest teams during last year’s all-Filipino showcase in the bubble as the Hotshots bucked a shaky start and then captured six straight wins for a 7-4 record. However, a logjam in the middle of the standings pushed Victolero and his charges down as the seventh seeds, which pitted them against twice-to-beat Phoenix whom they nearly cornered to a decider until Matthew Wright’s one-legged triple at crunch time.
“We readied for this,” said Victolero. “Every single day, [the players] work hard. They put in an extra. And It’s showing. We saw it in this game. That’s the extra motivation [for us to] get deep into the playoffs.”
San Miguel, buoyed by its aging stars, managed to power through adversities brought on by the absence of cornerstone June Mar Fajardo and a season-ending shoulder injury to Terrence Romeo last year. But against a young Bolts crew eager to prove that they belong, the Beermen sputtered in two games.
“Coach (Leo Austria) reminds us about that and we couldn’t forget that we had a twice-to-beat advantage and lost to a good team,” said Alex Cabagnot after hitting a tough, last-second jumper to upend NorthPort, 88-87, in Game 1 of their series.
Both clubs have brought in new faces to ensure that this year’s campaign yields an entirely different result. San Miguel acquired former top rookie and scoring champ CJ Perez, who is thriving coming off the bench most of the time, while Magnolia got do-it-all forward Calvin Abueva, who is fitting in just as nicely.
San Miguel dominated the all-Filipino the last decade, while Magnolia was the only other team outside of the Beermen and defending champion Barangay Ginebra to win a conference title in the last four years.
Both definitely would want to keep dominating, and it would be up to the Elasto Painters and the Batang Pier to try and stop them at this stage. INQ