BY JONAS TERRADO
THE San Miguel Beermen looked like a horse that fell a bit short of completing a Triple Crown after their Grand Slam dreams came to an end yet again with a quarterfinal loss to Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
But like two years ago when the same predicament happened, the Beermen were rather grateful of what they have accomplished than dwell on their failed bid of joining an elite circle of Grand Slam winners.
“Ganun talaga,” said June Mar Fajardo after SMB went down 100-97 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. “Hindi naman ganun kadali makuha ang Grand Slam pero thankful na rin kami kay God na nakakuha kami ng two out of three championships. Hindi na rin masama ang season namin.”
SMB put itself in a great position to complete the job that was left unfinished in 2017, winning the first four games of the eliminations thanks to a strong play of import Dez Wells.
But things began to slip when Wells went down with an ankle injury, prompting the team to tap the services of former NBA player John Holland.
Holland, however, couldn’t give the Beermen a win in his three appearances coupled with the internal squabble that saw Arwind Santos, Kelly Nabong and Ronald Tubid and Wells bidding adieu for their fight during a recent practice.
“Everything naman, whether you’re successful or not, there’s always something that might happen to your team something for the better or something for the bad,” lamented SMB coach Leo Austria.
“Ganun talaga ang mundo e, pabago bago. Minsan kala mo mainit, biglang uulan. But I just wanted to tell you na what we want is what is best of the team. But everything is a gamble. Even getting some people, import, you can never know dahil trial and error yan. Kung kilala ko lahat sila, pwede. But that’s a part of handling a team – you don’t know what is on the table. But you keep on trying, we keep on trying.”
Austria still found a way to look for silver linings.
“Painful for us, especially you want to achieve something,” he said. “But I’m happy the way we achieved those things, two championships (this season), eight championships in the last five years.
“We have to count our blessings, hindi naman lahat yan mapupunta sayo. This is not the end of the world. We still have a lot of chances. It’s up to us. Maybe next time. I don’t know what will happen,” added Austria.
