PBA Finals: San Miguel veered away from its brand of play in Game 3 loss

San Miguel Beer center June Mar Fajardo during Game 3 of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—There was nothing technical as to why San Miguel Beer lost to Meralco in Game 3 of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.

“Coach (Jorge Gallent) told us that we didn’t play San Miguel basketball. We needed to make more extra passes. That’s what he pointed out,” said June Mar Fajardo in Filipino on Sunday after Game 3 slipped away from the Beermen’s fingertips.

True enough, San Miguel had as many turnovers as assists with 15. Those errors led to 20 turnover points for Meralco.

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The Bolts, on the other hand, played with much better flow on the offensive end with 22 assists and only 10 turnovers.

“They’ve been playing really well throughout this series. This is a long series. We’ll do everything to bounce back next game. It is what it is,” said Fajardo.

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Fajardo finished with a double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds but the seven-time MVP only went 2-of-5 from the field and turned the ball over seven times. In Game 1 where the Beermen also lost, Fajardo committed six turnovers.

“They play good defense. They have a lot of bigs and they rotate so quickly that it gets tiring. We also missed shots that we should’ve made. They had a lot of offensive rebounds. We just really have to improve.”