San Miguel coach Jorge Gallent and the Beermen in the PBA Philippine Cup. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—In usual coach Jorge Gallent style, the San Miguel tactician reiterated that a sweep of the PBA Philippine Cup elimination round is still not in the minds of the Beermen.
On Wednesday at Philsports Arena, San Miguel finished their penultimate game of the eliminations with a 124-109 victory over Blackwater.
With one game left in the calendar before the PBA Playoffs, the Beermen are in prime position to finish the single round robin without any blemishes.
READ: PBA: San Miguel nears eliminations sweep after routing Blackwater
But that certainly isn’t the goal for Gallent.
“It’s not over yet. We still have the 11th step. It’s not over and I have to downplay it (sweep) because it hasn’t happened yet. If it happens then lucky for us but then we move on to our next ladder,” said the top coach.
WATCH: San Miguel’s Don Trollano and coach Jorge Gallent after the win. | @MeloFuertesINQ pic.twitter.com/wUYWkVNwZo
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In the last game of the eliminations, the reigning PBA Commissioner’s Cup champions will face Meralco at Batangas City Coliseum on Saturday.
While the Bolts will enter the match shorthanded after losing Aaron Black to a torn ACL, Gallent remained wary of the surging squad in the hunt for good playoff positioning.
READ: PBA: Surging San Miguel Beer not focused on elims sweep
“We just have to match their energy because Meralco has to really win to make it to the Playoffs,” Gallent said.
“We just have to play well, minimize our turnovers, forced shots and limit their transition to very little. As what we always say in practice, we set goals. That’s what we need to do.”
A Meralco win will bring the Bolts to the magic number of six wins which will generally grant them a quarterfinals spot.
Whatever happens for San Miguel, though, will not change a thing as they will remain in the top seed with a twice-to-beat advantage over the eventual eighth seed.
Don Trollano, who finished with 25 points in the victory, was asked if there’s any pressure in ending the 11-game round without any losses.
Thanks to Gallent’s mentality that’s embedded in the Beermen, there’s none of that for the lethal San Miguel shooter.
“No [pressure]. One game at a time. We got an 11th step and we’ll take it one game at a time.”