Not out of the woods
Magnolia avoided a delicate predicament by pulling the rug from under San Miguel Beer in Game Three of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last Wednesday but the shock reversal from a 0-2 deficit will go for naught if the Chicken Timplados Hotshots don’t even the series in Game Four at the same venue tonight.
A win by San Miguel in Game Four will push the Beermen in front, 3-1, in the best-of-seven series and for Magnolia to survive, the Hotshots must then win three in a row. It’s tough enough to beat San Miguel back-to-back but to win three straight is a stretch. Yet if there’s a team that can do it, Magnolia has the inside track.
Thrice before, Magnolia came back from 0-2 to win a best-of-seven duel, all settled in Game Seven. It was known as Purefoods when the team achieved the feat over Alaska in the 2002 Governors Cup Finals and over Alaska once more in the 2006 Philippine Cup semis. The third came over Rain or Shine in the 2019 Philippine Cup semis as Magnolia.
In Game Three, coach Chito Victolero went back to basics. Instead of starting big, he pushed the tempo with a small lineup of Mark Barroca, Jio Jalalon and Rome de la Rosa backed by a resurgent Ian Sangalang and Tyler Bey. Paul Lee came off the bench to keep the small formation intact. Abu Tratter sat out and Rafi Reavis played less than four minutes as clearly, Victolero put an emphasis on pressure defense, pace and guard play. There was also a shift in point of attack. In Game One, Magnolia took 23 three-point attempts. In Game Two, it was up to 27. But in Game Three, Magnolia brought the fight inside and took only 14 triple tries with 70 coming from two-point range. As a result, the Hotshots hit over 40 percent from the field for the first time in the series and dominated the paint points, 54-34.
San Miguel couldn’t keep pace with Magnolia and the Hotshots had more fastbreak points, 2611. Magnolia’s balanced attack left San Miguel wondering where in tarnation the artillery came from. Five Hotshots scored in double figures when in Game One, only two did and in Game Two, three.
The Beermen, however, were shorthanded in Game Three and that meant a shorter rotation that Magnolia took advantage of. Terrence Romeo was out to rest a hurting ankle and Jericho Cruz served a one-game suspension for accumulating five technicals in the conference. The bright spot for San Miguel was Jeron Teng’s first double figure outing with his new team. Bey tallied a conference-low 11 points as he took only 14 attempts compared to Bennie Boatwright’s 28. Bey concentrated on defending Boatwright, sacrificing his offense and placed his trust on Magnolia’s locals who paid him back with dividends. Despite the masterful showing, Magnolia isn’t out of the woods. But a win tonight over San Miguel will clear the way for a realignment of forces with the battlefield wide open for a conquest either way.