San Miguel eyes pivotal lead; Ginebra looks to bounce back
As devastating as they were in their back- to- back lopsided victories, t he San Miguel Beer men are realistic they're just a game up on the Barangay Ginebra Kings in their PBA Commissioner's Cup best- of- seven showdown.
The same realization provides the Gin Kings positive perspectives despite shattering losses in the last two games.
The bottom line is San Miguel is barely leading, 2-1. The Beermen can make it 3- 1 but the Kings can even up at 2- 2 in Game Four tonight at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Game time is at 7 p.m. after a brief ceremony to fete the Best Player of the Conference and the Best Import. June Mar Fajardo is cinch for the BPC plum while Justin Brownlee and Renaldo Balkman are locked in a tight fight for the Best Import award.
"Though we scored two straight blowout wins, we got only a 2- 1 lead, and it's still a long way to go. We need two more wins to defend the title," said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.
But Austria said they could indeed draw tremendous boost and energy from their 134-109 rout in Game Two followed by a 132-94 demolition job in Game Three.
"It's just one game ( l ead) but we have an advantage going to the next game. In this condition, it's hard to be nasa ilalim. We're on top and I hope these blowouts could serve us a morale- booster or confidence," said Austria.
"What I want t o impress to my players is this is just one game, so yung overconfidence hindi kailangan mag- set in," Austria added.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone, meanwhile, i s trying to rebuild his team's confidence.
"SMB tore our hearts and demoralized us. A truly great performance by them on both sides of the ball. We were simply embarrassed. I was embarrassed. The bottom line, though, we still have to remember that it's a seven-game series, and the score is only 2-1," said Cone. —