By REYNALD MAGALLON
San Miguel will be coming in well-rested in their return trip to the Philippine Cup after making quick work Rain or Shine in the semis but head coach Jorge Gallent wants to keep his charges on their toes and remain sharp during the break.
The Beermen completed a sweet 4-0 sweep of the Elasto Painters in their semis series and they are now only waiting for their Finals opponent which will be one between the Meralco Bolts and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel.
That however might take a while to be determined with the series now tied at 2-2, giving SMB the luxury of time to rest and prepare.
However, Gallent, which gave his players a two-day break as a reward for the sweep, is hoping that the Beermen stay sharp through the long-wait especially that they cannot do much in terms of preparation with their finals opponent yet to be known.
“We’re gonna rest Saturday, Sunday then we’ll come back to work on Monday. We can’t do anything right now because we don’t know who’s gonna win the series,” said Gallent.
“We’re just gonna do the things we’ve been doing, which is practicing our offense and getting better on defense. So that’s what we’re gonna do while waiting for the other series,” he added.
Either way, SMB is expecting a tough battle ahead in the finals with both Meralco and Ginebra looking really capable of matching up against the Beermen.
The Kings, for one, certainly have the depth with Japeth Aguilar and Christian Standhardinger spearheading the frontline to contend against June Mar Fajardo and Scottie Thompson, Ralph Cu, Stanley Pringle and Maverick Ahanmisi to provide the firepower against CJ Perez, Terrence Romeo, Don Trollano, Marcio Lassiter and Jericho Cruz.
Ginebra, however, lost to SMB in the eliminations, 95-92.
Meralco, on the other hand, was the lone team that put the blemish on SMB’s once perfect 10-0 record. The Bolts were the first team to prove that the Beermen were not invincible, denying them a historic elims sweep with a 95-92 win.
For Gallent, however, the focus remains on the big prize and not on the team which they will be facing to get it.
“We are going to our fourth step which is the Finals. We just have to think of it one game at a time and think how to prepare whoever wins in the other series,” he added.
