By REYNALD MAGALLON
With San Miguel showing no signs of letting up in its first game back since winning the PBA Commissioner’s Cup title, a talk of a possible season sweep was certainly inevitable.
For one, the Beermen still looked exactly in their championship form and with key players in June Mar Fajardo and Terrence Romeo even returning to peak forms following their respective injuries.
The dominant performance in the 109-97 win over the Elasto Painters actually said it all as the team hardly had problems in putting away its opponents as if it was not coming off a sweet vacation.
But for head coach Jorge Gallent, a season double is still far from his team’s mind.
“Just like I always tell you, we’ll just do it ladder by ladder. We are not thinking above that ladder,” insisted Gallent after the win.
The veteran tactician certainly has a point. It was only the first game of their title defense and the elimination round is far from over. The plan is to take it game by game.
“The elimination is the start of our ladder and when we finish this, we just move to the other step but right now, we’re just thinking game by game and the eliminations,” added Gallent.
“That question (season sweep) is far from our heads,” he stressed.
Gallent though was glad to see his players live up to the expectations right on the first game.
Fajardo had a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds while it was Marcio Lassiter and Jericho Cruz who led the scoring with 17 and 20 respectively. Don Trollano chipped in 16 while Romeo finished with 13 points and six assists.
“All the players were just all locked in now. They know what this game meant, it’s the first game and it’s always good to start with the win that’s why they just played hard today,” Gallent pointed out.
