BOUNCE BACK TIME
San Miguel Beer and Alaska, top seeds that were upset in the last Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals, face each other in the opening twinbill of the 2014 PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday.
Both are out to erase the memory of their second-conference heartbreaker as they square off at 5:15 p.m.
The Beermen, in their first tourney under coach Biboy Ravanes and coaching consultant Todd Purves, finished second behind Talk n Text in the Commissioner’s Cup eliminations with a solid 7-2 win-loss record only to blow away a twice-to-beat advantage versus Air21 in the quarterfinals.
Alaska, on the other hand, came in third in the elims with a 6-3 slate but bowed to eventual champion San Mig Super Coffee in the decider of their best-of-three quarters matchup.
In their Commissioner’s Cup elims face-off, the Aces overwhelmed the Beermen, 89-78, in a road game in Binan, Laguna on March 29.
“Coming from a disappointing conference, hopefully we learned from it and recover. We have to use it as a motivational tool,” said Ravanes.
“Obviously, Alaska will play with the same mindset. We must play our game a notch higher. We have to be more prepared on end game situations. We have to develop a killer instinct,” Ravanes also said.
Helping the Beermen in their bid is import Reggie Williams, the two-time US NCAA scoring champ who later had stints with the Golden State Warriors, the Charlotte Bobcats and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA.
“We will be facing a team that is full of firepower. It is no wonder that they led the league in turnover points, fast break points and second-chance points last conference at the end of the eliminations,” said Alaska coach Luigi Trillo.
“For us to be successful, our import Henry Walker has to play on both ends of the court,” Trillo added.
Walker is also an NBA veteran with tours of duty with the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks.
The Alaska import is a passionate baller who drew a sanction from commissioner Chito Salud even before his first official game in the local pro league.
He incurred a fine of P20,000 for his fight with Danny Ildefonso during the Alaska-Meralco tuneup. (SB)
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