SMB BLANKS TNT, CLAIMS FINALS SPOT
It’s time to celebrate Christmas and a remarkable feat in the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals for San Miguel Beer.
“Two-day break to rest and celebrate. The guys deserve this,” said coach Leo Austria, moments after the Beermen completed a stirring four-game sweep of the Talk n Text Tropang Texters to advance to the Finals.
The Beermen outscored the Texters in each of the first three quarters and played steady through the final period to cap the 4-0 blanking of TNT with a resounding 100-87 victory Friday night at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
June Mar Fajardo imposed his huge presence and came through with a solid all-around game with 28 points, 16 rebounds, five assists and two blocks, leading the Beermen to a first 4-0 playoff sweep in franchise history.
Arwind Santos, Alex Cabagnot ,Chris Lutz and Ronald Tubid also provided a push as San Miguel, the league’s winningest ball club, gained a 34th PBA Finals.
The Beermen take a shot at a fifth Philippine Cup crown and 20th PBA championship in all versus the winner of the Rain or Shine-Alaska semis showdown.
“Nasa Finals na kami. Mas itataas pa namin ang intensity ng laro namin. Mas gagalingan pa namin,” said Fajardo.
The 6-foot-10 behemoth played his best game in the post-elims play, making the big difference in Game Four despite nine turnovers.
He converted 12 of 17 field tries and four of six free throws to match his career second-best output. He missed his career-high by eight.
Fajardo struck on an array of shots, proving unstoppable on single coverage by Talk n Text.
The Beermen took control almost throughout with Cabagnot, Lutz, Santos and Tubid also coming out with their guns ablaze.
Lutz and Santos fired 15 and 13 markers as starters while Cabagnot and Tubid rifled in 16 and 11, respectively, as relievers.
“I wasn’t expecting this (the sweep) to happen. I have a lot of respect for the Talk n Text organization. Credit goes to the players who really worked hard. I was just there to motivate them,” said Austria.
“I defined their roles and they’ve developed a good chemistry. From there, dumating yung unity at madami silang ginulat,” Austria also said.
Taken aback were the Texters, the former Philippine Cup three-peat champs hoping to have a crack at regaining the league’s most coveted crown.
They just had no answer for Fajardo, though.
The Cebuano man-mountain had piled up double-double numbers by the third period that ended with San Miguel sitting on a 73-57 cushion.
Tubid parlayed an error by Ryan Reyes to a breakaway basket then Lassiter fired away a buzzer-beater triple to stretch their lead to 16 at the end of the third. (SB)
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