By REYNALD MAGALLON
San Miguel Beer is not letting go of the chance to finally finish off Meralco in Game 6 of their best-of-seven semifinals series in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Beermen, who are determined to book a return trip to the all-Filipino conference finals since its historic five peat in 2019, aims to deliver the killing blows against the Bolts in the first offering at 4:30 p.m.
The TNT Tropang Giga also hope to do the same against a gritty Magnolia Hotshots side in the second game at 6:30 p.m.
The Beermen, however, know full well that it will take more than blood and sweat to close out a series against an equally talented Meralco which so far have successfully bounced back from a loss in the series.
“Regarding the momentum and motivation I think nasa amin iyon but it’s up to us this is a situation na kailangan namin hindi i-let go. We’ll go back to the drawing board and try to figure out what happened tonight and what’s best for us,” said Austria in the heels of SMB’s 89-78 in Game 5.
“I think nagkaroon kami ng kaunting advantage, I hope next game, we realize na that is the most important game this conference,” said the multi-titled coach who hasn’t been on the PBA finals since the 2019 Commissioner’s Cup.
There was no sense of concern or panic however in the voice of Meralco head coach Norman who stayed defiant despite being shoved their backs against the wall by the crucial Game 5 loss.
“I didn’t think we matched their energy as far as intensity is concerned so that is something we have to change going into the next game, Game 6. I thought they played well tonight especially defensively,they took us out of our offense,” admitted the veteran coach.
“We’re a pretty good team. We’ll bounce back. We’ll be back on Sunday,” added Black.
Over at the other series, TNT hopes to finally close out the series against Magnolia after failing to do so in Game 5 as the Hotshots dominated the Tropang Giga, 105-97.
Mark Barroca and the rest of the Hotshots veterans didn’t want to go on a vacation yet as they clamped down on the defensive end limiting RR Pogoy and Mikey Williams to just 13 points while Jayson Castro although finished with 18, only scored a solitary point in the final frame.
