By REYNALD MAGALLON
San Miguel’s shocking Game 1 loss to Terrafirma certainly served as a wake-up call for the Beermen and left a bitter taste in their mouths heading into the sudden-death game.
“Credit sa Terrafirma ang ganda ng nilaro nila. Lahat ata ng tinira nila nasu-shoot so na-outplay nila kami this game,” admitted SMB main man June Mar Fajardo whose 21 points and 16 rebounds were not enough to help his team evade the upset axe from Terrafirma.
The loss was a painful reminder to the Beermen that as much as how dominant they were in the eliminations – evident to their perfect 10-0 start – nothing will come easy in the playoffs.
For one, the Beermen never looked this vulnerable after absorbing their first back-to-back losses of the conference.
“Start ng conference parang easy lang sa amin kasi diba naka 10-0 kami so baka na-overwhelm kami,” said Fajardo.
“Ito parang wake-up call sa amin. Sabi ko nga sa inyo, wala nang mahinang teams ngayon sa PBA malakas na yung mga teams. Bounce back buti nakuha namin yung twice-to-beat, yun naman yung goal namin. Good thing nakuha namin iyon at nagamit namin,” he added.
Looking forward to the knockout match, Fajardo said there’s a lot for the Beermen to fix especially after getting outplayed by the Dyip. SMB was outgunned by Terrafirma from deep – something that the Beermen wanted to solve.
“Yun yung ia-adjust namin sa next game, kasi hindi lang naman si Isaac ang (maganda shooting), pati si Juami [Tiongson], si [Stephen] Holt. Dami nilang mga shooters,” said Fajardo.
“Yung game nila sa labas, so kailangan namin mag-step up, taasan namin yung depensa,” he added.
