JAKARTA—Nothing went right for San Miguel Beer in its title sweep bid away from home Saturday.
So for coach Bobby Parks, his Beermen need to bring their championship focus back when they go for another shot at the championship against the Indonesia Warriors in the winner-take-all Game 3 of the Asean Basketball League finals in Manila this week.
“We’ve got to bounce back, we have no choice,” said Parks. “But I’ve got confidence in my guys. Of course we have to make some adjustments, change it up a little bit.
“The most important thing is we execute. [In Game 2], we didn’t follow the game plan.”
The best-of-three series heads back to Manila after the Warriors forged a rubber match by blasting the Beermen in a surprise 20-point rout, 81-61, in Game 2 Saturday at the Mahaka Square here.
Game 3 is set at 4 p.m. next Saturday at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
“Whatever could go wrong went wrong [in Game 2],” said Parks. “Whenever we made a run, someone will be called for a charging (foul) or something. There were momentum breakers the whole time.”
But Parks admits that the Warriors came out with more energy as stars Evan Brock and Stanley Pringle teamed up for 39 points and drew impressive support from Indonesia’s local bench.
“It was a clear case of them coming out with a sense of urgency and following their game plan,” said Parks. “They played really well, they took our guys out of their comfort zones.”
Indonesia’s American coach Todd Purves said the Warriors learned from the heartbreaking defeat in Game 1, where the Beermen rallied from 14 points down to claim an 86-83 victory.
“I expected that effort from my players,” said Purves. “We needed all 40 minutes to beat this team. In Game 1, we just played a good 35 minutes.”
The Warriors heavily outrebounded the Beermen, 37-21, while holding down San Miguel’s Duke Crews, Nick Fazekas, Leo Avenido and Chris Banchero to a combined 45 points.
The output of the Beermen’s top quartet was nearly 30 points less than the 72 they delivered at home in Game 1.
“We came out playing one-on-one, not running our plays, not sticking to the game plan,” said Parks. “So now, we need to have a good hard week of practice.”