San Miguel Beermen in the PBA Finals against Magnolia Hotshots. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
San Miguel will try to set a new team mark and move closer to rewriting another on Wednesday when it battles Magnolia once again in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
And yet, no one in the team seems to be interested in talking about a franchise record 12th straight win with a victory in their 7:30 p.m. Game 3 encounter at Smart Araneta Coliseum—with that same win moving the Beermen closer to a record-extending 29th league title.
Already with momentum and having psychological control in this race-to-four showdown, the Beermen would rather focus on what’s at hand, and basically not give the Hotshots room to breathe.
READ: PBA Finals schedule: San Miguel vs Magnolia
“As of now, we’ve just won two games—that’s all,” coach Jorge Gallent said. “We’re focused on this series. As I told [the players], Game 2 is over, let’s just work on Game 3.
“Two-zero is nothing. We haven’t achieved what we want to achieve. We have two more games to focus on [and win]. A sweep is not even in our minds. Our thing now is [to figure out] how to get four wins before them,” Gallent added after pinning the Hotshots to the ropes with a 109-85 Game 2 win on Sunday.
Even with the second game ending lopsidedly in favor of the Beermen, there was tension after it in the hallway as Calvin Abueva got into a heated exchange with Mo Tautuaa and his wife.
READ: Abueva, Tautuaa involved verbal spat after PBA Finals Game 3
The temperamental Magnolia forward was slapped with a P100,000 fine because of that and escaped suspension, leaving the Hotshots with a full roster as they try to dodge a third straight defeat.
Abueva and Tautuaa met with commissioner Willie Marcial on Tuesday afternoon, and the former Gilas Pilipinas teammates buried the hatchet shortly after.
League-best mark
A win by the Beermen extends their winning ways to a new franchise record, but more importantly, a triumph will put the traditional powerhouse at the doorstep of a new league-best mark in terms of championships won.
San Miguel knows that it would be remiss to count Magnolia out, as the Hotshots have proven over and over that it is capable of coming back.
Magnolia has overhauled a 0-2 deficit and won a best-of-seven series thrice in the past, according to stats chief Fidel Mangonon III.
Veteran Marcio Lassiter has also been in this high-stakes duel nine times in the past to know better.
“We’re playing a really strong team, we know they’re gonna come back even more hungry—even more physical with different schemes,” he said.
“We need four wins just like them, so the job is not yet done. We can’t be satisfied with a 2-0 lead, we have to come in and tell ourselves it’s a 0-0 ballgame, that it’s tied, and keep on pushing the envelope and get the next win.”