Twice-to-beat SMB can’t afford to relax vs NLEX, says Austria

SAN Miguel Beer escaped NLEX by just the skin of its teeth in their lone elimination round meeting in the PBA Governors Cup.

Beermen coach Leo Austria expects nothing less than the same when they take on the Road Warriors Friday at the start of the season-ending tourney’s quarterfinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

For emerging as the No. 2 seed following the 11-game eliminatons, SMB got rewarded with a twice-to-beat advantage over the seventh-ranked NLEX.

That offers little comfort for Austria, whose team blew a 17-point lead against the Road Warriors and had Marcio Lassiter’s buzzer-beating triple to thank for escaping with a 94-93 thriller in their July 22 encounter.

“We cannot afford to relax against a dangerous team like NLEX,” said Austria on the eve of the match.

“As has been shown the last time we met, NLEX has what it takes to beat us at ang responsibility ngayon nasa amin, to make sure na hindi namin sila bibigyan ng anumang opening.”

Indeed, the Road Warriors intend to at least force a decider.

“We are in a tough situation because we are facing SMB in a quarterfinal matchup with a twice-to-win disadvantage,”” admitted NLEX coach Boyet Fernandez. “But, as we always do, we are preparing really hard for SMB.”

The key, according to Fernandez, is to stifle SMB’s main men.

“We just have to limit “(June Mar) Fajardo, (Elijah) Millsap, (Arwind) Santos, (Alex) Cabagnot and Lassiter on their points by playing solid individual and team defense,” stressed Fernandez.

It is also on defense that Austria wants his charges to focus on, especially Henry Walker, who has been averaging 31 points and almost 11 rebounds per game, and spearheaded NLEX’s fightback in their first meeting with 33 points.

“We expect Walker to do the most damage against us at pinaghandaan namin siya accordingly,” noted Austria. “But we must also never neglect the likes of Jonas Villanueva, Garvo Lanete, Kevin Alas, Sean Anthony and, of course, Asi (Taulava).”

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