San Miguel Beer guard CJ Perez.–PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—San Miguel remained invincible in the PBA Philippine Cup, improving to 7-0 after defeating NorthPort on Sunday.
The reason for the Beermen’s exemplary success is the squad’s efforts behind closed doors.
“Sometimes in practice, we really hurt each other,” said Perez in Filipino after their 120-100 win over the Batang Pier.
READ: PBA: San Miguel books quarterfinal slot with rout of NorthPort
Perez’s comment drew laughs during the post-game scrum but the guard wasn’t joking at all.
“No, that’s real. The competition [in practice] is so high, especially when we know that our next game is still a few days away? We’ll really go at it in practice. We need to take care of each other, of course, but the competition is so high.”
The intense practices have led to a torrid start for the Beermen and Perez, who continued his stellar showing with a near-double-double of 29 points and nine rebounds on top of six assists and a steal.
Mo Tautuaa also contributed in a major way with 15 points and five rebounds while league MVP June Mar Fajardo added 12 points and nine rebounds.
READ: PBA: San Miguel stays unbeaten at 6-0 after beating Converge
Perez also gave credit to the coaching staff led by head coach Jorge Gallent.
“In these situations, we honor the game so that other players can play as well and of course, with our coaches, we trust them in managing our minutes.”
“Coach (Jorge Gallent) also pays close attention in practice. Right now, we’re not a complete team without Jericho (Cruz) so some of us are playing longer minutes but we played well.”