Hotshots eye 2-0 lead

As impressive as Magnolia’s stunning victory was in Game 1 of the PBA Philippine Cup  Friday night, San Miguel coach Leo Austria was quick to remind the Hotshots of their daunting task ahead: They would have to beat them three more times to win the title.

The Hotshots brace for a strong response from the Beermen following a Game 1 meltdown on Sunday night when they shoot for a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series for the All-Filipino crown at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

While coach Chito Victolero was a picture of relief after the 105-103 triumph where his team clawed their way back from a 20-point deficit to grab the head start in the series, Austria remained calm and composed, fully aware that his team can turn things around.

“The good thing with this is that they have to beat us four times before they’ll be declared as champion,” said Austria of the Hotshots, who outscored the Beermen, 30-14, in the final quarter to pull off the comeback.

“I think we have to regroup and for the players not to lose their composure. And fortunately, we still have time and a lot of games to bounce back from this kind of game.”

The Beermen seemed to have ripped the game wide open in the third quarter when they grabbed a 72-52 lead only for the Hotshots to rally, behind Ian Sangalang, Jio Jalalon and rookie Robbie Herndon, who proved effective playing against SMB’s zone defense with a couple of triples.

“It’s very disappointing and frustrating. I guess we fell in love with our defense because it gave us a lot of glory in the past few games,” Austria said. “But I was not able to react at the time when we needed to go back to man-to-man. And it’s my fault.”

Austria also couldn’t get his bench players going as only Chris Ross scored among the reserves—chipping in a single point.

“Maybe that’s the reason why we lost this game,” Austria said, after the Hotshots outscored them, 47-1 on bench points.

Sangalang more than held his ground against four-time MVP June Mar Fajardo in the series opener, scoring 29 points, two less than the output of his SMB counterpart. But Sangalang hit the baskets that mattered most, while holding Fajardo to just six points in the fourth quarter.

“We have to continue to have that mindset that we are the underdogs in the series,” said Sangalang in Filipino. “That helped us in Game 1 because we played without pressure even if we were down by 20 points.”