SMB gets another shot at Grand Slam
San Miguel Beer (SMB) acknowledged that there will be pitfalls in its quest to win the PBA Grand Slam, but is nonetheless ready to do the job that was left unfinished two seasons ago.
The Beermen set themselves up for a chance to complete a sweep of the league’s three conferences after finishing off TNT KaTropa, 102-90, the Commissioner’s Cup crown Friday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
But like a horse going for a shot at the Triple Crown at the Belmont, SMB will deal with the pressures that lie ahead in the chase that was done only five times in the PBA’s 43-year history.
“We have a lot of work to do, man,” said SMB guard Chris Ross, who like many of his teammates have experienced falling short of the Grand Slam.
It would be recalled that San Miguel was in a position to pull off the Grand Slam in the 2016-17 season, but was eliminated in the quarterfinals by eventual champion Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in the Governors’ Cup.
“Medyo napaso na kami in 2017 (We were pretty much exhausted in 2017),” said SMB coach Leo Austria, adding that teams are expected to give them a hard time in the Governors’ Cup which opens Sept. 20 as it was two years ago.
“Talagang mahirap manalo (It’s really hard to win). But I hope we could get a good import that could help us because the barometer is always the import,” Aus
tria added.
Getting an import that could fit well may be the biggest factor in SMB’s attempt to join the exclusive list of Grand Slam winners.
The import situation was one of the reasons why SMB’s Grand Slam dreams disappeared in 2017, when it was forced to replace Wendell McKines in lieu of Terrence Watson midway through the Governors’ Cup.
Marcio Lassiter’s recovery from an injured left knee will be also factored in the Beermen’s quest to repeat the Grand Slam feat their predecessors Ramon Fernandez, Samboy Lim, Hector Calma and coach Norman Black did for the Beermen 30 years ago.
Terrence Romeo could play a bigger role in SMB’s cause after his performance against former team TNT earned him the PBA Press Corps-Honda Finals Most Valuable Player award.
“I don’t know what import we will bring in but hopefully he gets well with us and we get the job done,” Ross said. “So we know what’s at stake now. Two down, one to go.
“Hopefully we can stay healthy, get Marcio back healthy. June Mar (Fajardo)’s going to Gilas (for the FIBA World Cup) and hopefully he gets some rest.
“We’ll give it a go. There’s great imports coming in. Justin Brownlee’s back (for Ginebra), (Eugene) Phelps’ back (for Phoenix), (Allen) Durham’s back (for Meralco) so we know we have our work cut out. But I know we are ready for the challenge,” added Ross.