Complacency can be SMB’s No. 1 foe now
It should have been a 3-0 lead for San Miguel Beer going to Game 4 on Wednesday. That’s the story thus far in the best-of-seven title series between the Beermen and the TNT Katropa Texters for the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
It should have been 3-0 by now for SMB if not for the 3-point shot by Texter Jason Castro in the dying seconds of Game 1. It should have been 3-0 by now for SMB if not for Texter RR Pogoy’s career-high 27 points in Game 1. And, finally, it should have been 3-0 by now for SMB if not for Joshua Smith’s baby hook shot that proved to be the marginal basket in TNT’s 104-102 Game 1 victory.
Good thing SMB coach Leo Austria made a quick fix, his repair job not only good for Game 2 but for Game 3 as well.
A choking defense and a blitzkrieg offense did it.
SMB blanked Pogoy not only in Game 2 but in Game 3 as well.
The spitfire from Cebu got so frustrated in his failure to buy even a single basket that he resorted to a gruesome groin-grabbing binge against Beerman Arwind Santos to get automatically ejected.
Pogoy’s grievous showing extended to Game 3, where he again went scoreless.
I’d say TNT coach Nash Racela was also to blame, insisting on sticking to Pogoy when his guard got grounded repeatedly.
Castro was neutralized as well in both Games 2 & 3, the speedster aka “The Blur” reduced to a hapless deadweight in Game 2 after a listless performance and committing 10 turnovers. Worst, he only had six points in the first three quarters of Game 3, keying another murderous SMB performance frequently seen from the Grand Slam-seeking Beermen since Day One of the eliminations.
While SMB had unfurled a sterling show of defense back-toback, offense, which has been its signature bailiwick owing to having built the strongest first five in recent memory, was also at its deadliest in the last two games.
Can Racela reasonably rise from the stupor? I doubt that very much. His gambit on retaining Smith, virtually useless as his injured foot hampers him on coping up with SMB’s blinding fastbreaks, is backfiring—glaringly.
Only SMB complacency now can prevent the inevitable.
So, if you see a 3-1 SMB lead in the horizons, same here.