Game Today
(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
6:15 p.m – San Miguel vs Magnolia
By MARK REY MONTEJO
The PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals is back to square one – reducing the best-of-seven series into a best-of-three affair.
The exciting part about it is that no one between the red-hot Magnolia Hotshots and San Miguel Beermen are willing to give an inch in their bid to claim the ultimate prize and the mouth-watering bonus that awaits the victorious team from their mother company – the ultra-rich San Miguel Corporation of Ramon S. Ang.
Magnolia, for one, is going to stick to its time-tested defensive schemes when they clash with the Beermen in Game 5 – a critical period of the series.
San Miguel’s vaunted offense was occasionally seen only in the first half until it eventually conked out – a clear victim of Magnolia’s defensive brilliance.
Can Magnolia make it three in a row?
If the Hotshots sustain their defensive effort, coach Chito Victolero believes nothing is impossible.
“We are making sacrifices for this series, especially this guy (Tyler Bey), he handled their best player [Bennie] Boatwright, everything goes down to our defense, again we limit them under 90 points, that’s our goal,” said Victolero after the team’s 95-86 win in Game 4 on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“As long as this series goes to that defensive game, we have a good chance of winning the [remaining] games,” he added.
The winner in Sunday’s game will earn huge psychological advantage going into Game 6 although momentum simply belongs to the Hotshots.
Since Game 3, the Hotshots are consistently utilizing their defensive schemes which was best typified by import Tyler Bey.
Victolero can’t even thank Bey enough for all the sacrifices he made to help Magnolia recover from stinging defeats in Games 1 and 2.
San Miguel won the first two games of the series after scoring more than 90 points and coach Jorge Gallent is hoping to rediscover their shooting touch.
Victolero still refused to be swayed or overconfident.
“There’s no advantage right now, there’s nothing to celebrate, but I like the effort and the aura of our team, we’re still the underdog of this series,” Victolero added.
With Magnolia’s swarming defense anchored on Bey, San Miguel’s Bennie Boatwright was held to just 16 points – his lowest since joining SMB this conference.
Despite his defensive duty, Bey still shine offensively for Magnolia as he scattered 26 points apart from grabbing 12 boards.
Also good thing for Bey, he got solid support from Paul Lee, Mark Barocca, and the tamed Calvin Abueva.
