SMB in line for the Slam—again
SAN Miguel Beer (SMB) has won the PBA Philippinie Cup crown five straight years from 2015 to 2019.
That’s a record too hard to surpass now, let alone equal.
It’s like what Manny Pacquiao had monumentally achieved: Eight world boxing titles in eight different weight divisions. No one has ever accomplished that.
To pocket its latest title, SMB leaned heavily on June Mar Fajardo, the 6-foot11 do-it-all machine with a knack for gobbling up rebounds a la vacuum cleaner.
I n Game 7 of the just-ended SMBMagnolia championship series, the Beermen survived a measly fivepoint output in the second quarter and next wiped out a 17-point deficit in the third quarter to escape with a 72-71 thriller behind Alex Cabagnot’s twisting jumper.
And Fajardo did his usual share in the win: Rule the glass.
Although he ended up with “only” 17 points from his usual clip of 30-plus points per game, he overshadowed that with his record 31 rebounds— breaking the 29 posted in 1975 by Marcelo
NEW YORK — Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, whose coast-to-coast rivalry in the 1980s propelled the NBA to a new level of popularity, will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Hall of Famers and 1992 U.S. Olympic teammates will receive the award on June 24 at the NBA Awards, the league and Turner Sports announced Wednesday.
The honor comes on the 40th anniversary of their meeting in the 1979 NCAA championship game, when Johnson’s Michigan State team beat Bird’s Indiana State squad. That is still the highest-rated game on television in college basketball history.
The two would see plenty more of each other across the next decade after Johnson went to the Los Angeles Lakers and Bird to the Boston Celtics. The Lakers won five championships in the 1980s and the Celtics won three, and the interest they drew forged a friendship and helped the NBA move past its struggle for mainstream attention and set the stage for basketball to become one of the world’s most popular sports.
Both players won three MVP awards, earned spots on the league’s list of 50 greatest players and were two-time Hall of Fame inductees, first as individuals and then with the Dream Team that captured the gold medal in Barcelona.
Bird went on to serve as both coach and president of the Indiana Pacers and is the only person in NBA history to be voted MVP, Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year.
Johnson also held both roles with the Lakers, though not with the same level of success. He served a short stint as coach (1993-94) and recently stepped down as team president after two seasons. His larger achievements since his playing days have come in the business world as CEO of Magic Johnson Enterprises.
Bill Russell was the first Lifetime Achievement winner in 2017 and Oscar Robertson was honored last year. (AP)
Simbulan.
No surprise then that Fajardo won a fifth Finals MVP plum.
Magnolia muffed several chances at snatching victory.
But miscues hobbled the Hotshots. The most hurtful was when Gio Jalalon missed the potential game-winner from point-blank range with ticks left.
Fajardo would grab Jalalon’s miss for his 31st board and got fouled.
But Magnolia still had a chance when Fajardo missed his two charities, with Paul Lee securing the rebound with 4.8 ticks remaining.
But a double-teaming Arwind Santos disrupted Lee’s attempt for a breakaway, goahead shot.
Santos’s sneak swipe from behind forced Lee to fumble, and got stalled near the timeline as the clock expired.
With SMB’s victory automatically comes talk of the Beermen’s chance, again, at winning the elusive Grand Slam.
The closest they came to completing the Slam was just two years back, when they won the first two conferences in 2017 (All Filipino and Commissioner’s Cup), only to be denied when they bowed out in the season-ending Governors’ Cup.
For sure, SMB will go for it. Again.
Dreams are forever.