Drawing first blood
The way the first half of Game 1 of the PBA Philippine Conference Finals went at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last Friday was so un-Magnolia-like. Touted as the league’s No. 1 defensive team, the Hotshots gave up 33 points to San Miguel Beer in the first quarter and 30 in the second.
Before the Finals, Magnolia surrendered an average of only 85.2 points an outing or 21.3 a quarter or 42.6 each half. San Miguel came out with guns blazing in the series opener and at the turn, embarrassed Magnolia with 63 points or more than 20 over what the Hotshots usually yield. But something jumped out of the stats sheet that gave Magnolia coach Chito Victolero hope for a reversal. Of San Miguel’s 63 points, 62 came from starters and only one point from the bench. In contrast, Magnolia’s 47 points included 19 from reserves.
The disparity meant San Miguel coach Leo Austria was almost exclusively dependent on his starters. The danger of burning out his nucleus in a drag-out contest had to be a cause for concern. Additionally, Chris Ross wasn’t 100 percent. Ross hurt his thigh in Game 3 of the semis against Ginebra and came off the bench in the three contests before the Finals. Matt Ganuelas-Rosser took Ross’ place in the starting lineup.
* * * * For Magnolia, things got worse before they got better. From a 16-point halftime lead, San Miguel went up by 20, 72-52, early in the third quarter on JuneMar Fajardo’s three-point play. The margin was 19 with 1:34 left in the period but Magnolia closed out the quarter with five unanswered points to trim the deficit to 14 entering the fourth.
Victolero started the fourth period with Jio Jalalon, Rob Herndon, Paul Lee, Ian Sangalang and Rafi Reavis battling Von Pessumal, Fajardo, Alex Cabagnot, Ross and Gabby Espinas. Austria couldn’t afford to rest Fajardo because when the Kraken was on the bench to open the second period, Magnolia quickly detonated a 6-0 bomb. Magnolia’s plan was to run San Miguel to the ground. The Hotshots scored four points to start the period, cutting the gap to 10, then Austria brought back his starters on the floor with Arwind Santos, Fajardo, Marcio Lassiter, Cabagnot and MGR. Magnolia put more pressure on San Miguel’s nucleus and went on a 13-0 tear.
Fajardo, now a step or two slower with heavy minutes on his legs, had five of his 11 turnovers in the fourth. On the other end, Sangalang attacked Fajardo’s defense and tired him out some more. While San Miguel stuck to its starting five, Victolero made constant adjustments with Aldrech Ramos checking in for Reavis and Mark Barroca for Jalalon. Austria brought in Ross for MGR but the momentum had shifted for Magnolia. With fresh legs, Barroca sank a jumper to push Magnolia on top, 101-100, time down to 1:25. It was the Hotshots’ first taste of the lead since Kyle Pascual completed a three-point play for 11-9 in the opening period.
* * * * With Magnolia ahead, 105-103, Cabagnot missed a potential gamewinning triple and Reavis claimed the rebound as the clock read four seconds. It appeared that Reavis motioned for a timeout with a foot on the line and himself going out of bounds. The referees allowed the timeout because Reavis had verbally called a timeout before losing his footing. PBA commissioner Willie Marcial took it on the referees’ word that Reavis voiced the timeout. After Jalalon missed two free throws, San Miguel had possession with 2.6 seconds left. But Magnolia deflected the inbound entry pass to Fajardo. The ball bounced to Santos who went up for a triple but was blocked by Reavis, ending the thriller. Defense did it for Magnolia.
Clearly, San Miguel imploded in the fourth period as Magnolia held the Beermen to only 14 points. Santos finished with 19 points but only one in the fourth. Fajardo had 31 but only six in the fourth. Victolero gambled on San Miguel’s starters gassing out and it paid off. Sangalang attacked Fajardo ferociously in the fourth, scoring 14 of his 29 points and Herndon, bursting with energy, hit eight points down the stretch. It came down to which team had more gas in the tank in the closing minutes.
Magnolia played patiently and waited for San Miguel to wilt in the end. The Hotshots forced 20 turnovers on the Beermen while they only had 11 and scored more turnover points, 20-12, more second chance points, 33-14 and more bench points, 47-1. It didn’t matter that Paul Lee had only four points on 2-of-13 field goals.