By REYNALD MAGALLON
San Miguel Beer and TNT look to inch closer to the Finals door as they eye a commanding 3-1 lead in their respective semifinals series Wednesday in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Beermen want to put the Meralco Bolts on brink of elimination in their 3 p.m. encounter while the Tropang Giga aim to move on cusp of a return trip to the finals when they face the Magnolia Timplados Hotshots in the second game at 6 p.m.
SMB fended off Meralco, 96-91 in Game 2 to regain the upper hand in the series but Beermen head coach Leo Austria doesn’t want to become complacent especially against the Bolts and coach Norman Black.
“Alam naman natin in a series especially against coach Norman and Meralco, this is a game of adjustment eh. We will try our best to anticipate what kind of adjustment that they will make come next game. (We need to) figure out what’s wrong and what’s right game and what’s their game plan,” said the multi-titled mentor.
June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez, frontrunners in the Best Player of the Conference derby, have also been leading the way for the Beermen that were evident in Game 3 win where the former posted 21 points while the latter had 26.
Determined not to fall into the 3-1 hole against a talent-laden SMB, Black said his players must shoot the ball well and continue to play scrappy and outwork the Beermen to even the series.
“We really have to shoot the basketball well and we have to be out there scrappy. We’ll probably end up committing more fouls as the series goes on but at the same time that’s how we can beat them,” said Black.
Meanwhile, TNT head coach Chot Reyes is bracing for a much tougher Game 4 – even harder than the Tropang Giga’s 93-92 Game 3 triumph which they won behind the desperation heave from Jayson Castro in the waning seconds.
“It’s going to be much harder, we’re both getting a couple of days before the next game so we’ll see how we were able to take advantage of that recovery period but yeah, I expect it to be tougher than tonight,” said Reyes after the Game 2 win.
Mark Barroca is expected to lead the way for Magnolia anew after almost giving his team the series lead when he scored on two tough layups late in the regulation to put the Hotshots on the driver seat, 92-90 in Game 3.
The Hotshots also hope to see more offense from Paul Lee who only shot 2-of-11 from the field, good for nine points.
