TNT to rely anew on Smith, seeks 2-0 lead vs. Beermen
Josh Smith can take a rest and avoid the risk of aggravating his injury with a standby TNT KaTropa import ready to take over his spot.
Smith, however, just won’t quit as he’s now even more determined to play on in his hope to help the Tropang Texters beat the San Miguel Beermen in their PBA Commissioner’s Cup best-ofseven title playoff.
“We’re the first team to get the first win so we’re three steps closer,” said the widebodied TNT import ahead of Game Two set at 7 p.m. tonight at the SmartAraneta Coliseum.
“As much as it is easy for me to pack up my stuff and leave, I wanna keep playing,” added Smith, who won Game One for the Texters, 104-102, on a gentle hook off June Mar Fajardo shortly before the buzzer.
Though playing on one good foot, the former Georgetown Hoya proved to be San Miguel’s huge problem Wednesday night with his unstoppable post attacks.
He drew much attention at the post, thus, opening the perimeter for their shooters Jayson Castro, RR Pogoy, RR Garcia and Anthony Semerad.
“He’s the problem in our defense,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria, hopeful though that they can make the adjustments to contain the TNT import in the next games.
“We had a hard time preparing (for Game One) because we didn’t know who would be their import. Now that we know, we can devise a defense to limit him and of course their perimeter shooters,” Austria pointed out.
The Beermen were disappointed but not disheartened by their Game One loss.
“We fought hard but we came up short because of Smith’s last shot. The breaks didn’t go our way,” Austria said.
The four-time champion coach also mentioned their woeful shooting and their numerous turnovers.
“Maasim (sour),” said Austria of their 6-of-29 threepoint shooting. “We couldn’t get the ball to our big men because we’re not making our outside shots. We should concentrate on post offense. We’ve won a lot of games on that.”
Their best shooter Marcio Lassiter was 0-of-6, Chris Ross was 0-of-4 whileArwind Santos was 0-of-1.
Curiously, Yancy de Ocampo nailed two treys in four tries – obviously an SMB ploy to draw Smith out of the paint. But De Ocampo, with his lean frame, yielded much to Smith on the defensive end.
The Beermen won the rebounding battle, 58-52, but turned the ball over 23 times, six more than those of the Texters.
“It’s crucial. Imagine, just in the first half, they had produced 19 points from our turnovers,” rued Austria.
TNT coach Nash Racela said they have to be ready for San Miguel’s adjustments.
Smith is not about to get complacent. He said: “(Game One) came down to the last shot. It’s going to be tough games. It’s gonna be whoever team that crawls it out, grinds it out.” —
PhilippineSTARNewsService