Beermen aim for 2-0 lead in Game 2

REIGNING champion San Miguel Beer goes for a 20 series lead against Barangay Ginebra San Miguel as they collide in Game 2 of the best-of-seven semifinals of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 43 Philippine Cup at 6:30 p.m. tonight at the Araneta Coliseum. SMB won Game 1 (102-90) last Friday. “Knowing coach Tim Cone, he has a lot of experience in this kind of series so I’m sure they will get back that’s why he rested his starters like Japeth Aguilar prior to the end of Game 1,” said San Miguel Beer coach Leo Austria. “You are in danger if you’re down 0- 2 in a series that is why I expect them to play more aggressive.”

Arwind Santos, Von Pessumal, Marcio Lassiter and Alex Cabagnot stepped up for SMB after four-time Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo was limited to nine points and seven rebounds in Game 1.

Santos finished with 23 points while Pessumal had a career- high 18 points output.

The Gin Kings are making a valiant stand despite its key players being plagued by injuries among them Greg Slaughter (ankle sprain), guard Mark Caguioa (ankle) and Paolo Taha (medial collateral ligament).

“We got our problems, but that’s the way it is at the end of a conference. We are banged up and bruised. We are just going to play through it. We can play better than we did tonight and that’s for sure with or without Greg Slaughter,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone.

“I think we are going to play better as the series goes along. We are going to try and catch our breath. We didn’t have much time to recover against San Miguel Beer because the focus was totally on Rain or Shine. We’ll try to improve and get better as the series goes along,” he ended.