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Beermen, Elasto Painters seek pivotal lead
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June Mar Fajardo vs Rain or Shine defense. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
THE support for June Mar Fajardo finally came and San Miguel Beer is now its old fiery self.
How the Beermen parlay their newfound momentum into at least one more sterling game would be known Wednesday when the defending champions clash with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the crucial Game 5 of their Smart Bro-PBA Philippine Cup semifinals series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Game time is 7 p.m.
“It’s (a) 2-2 series so Game 5 is a tossup,” declared SMB coach Leo Austria after his team pulled off a cruising 105-92 win last Monday to snap out of back-to-back losses, avoid a very deep hole in the best-of-seven duel and shift impetus to its side.
“Alam naman natin na Rain or Shine keeps on adjusting,” added Austria. “We also know (E-Painters) coach Yeng (Guiao), marami pang barahang p’wedeng ilabas iyan.”
Rain or Shine intends to do at least delay whatever celebration SMB may have planned.
“It’s a best-of-three now so we will make the adjustments in practice tomorrow,” said Guiao last Monday, his voice hoarse after all the shouting he did to futilely egg his players on.
“Let’s see what happens,” added Guiao. “We still have a great chance in this series. If you look at the record we have actually beaten them four times this conference so it shows we can beat them.”
It appears likely SMB would prove to be more than a handful, especially if Fajardo’s teammates would again show up.
In Game 4, Fajardo came up with his lowest output yet in the matchup with 33 points and 16 rebounds. But the other Beermen, led by Marcio Lassiter, Arwind Santos, Chris Ross and Alex Cabagnot, showed up to lend support unlike in the two previous matches.
Lassiter wound up with 20 points on a very efficient 8-for-12 shooting, Santos 19 and seven rebounds, Ross 13 points and four steals and Cabagnot 12 points and five boards.
“We have to shut down their (three-point shooting) early,” said Guiao. “We survived Fajardo scoring 40, but we cannot survive both Fajardo scoring in the 30s and then some others scoring in the 20s as well. We have to choose one or the other. We cannot have both.
“Hindi baleng si Fajardo na lang, huwag lang iyong sa labas nila. We can’t take that risk. It’s been our gameplan the past few games anyway.”
Last Monday Rain or Shine played minus key players Raymond Almazan (right ankle sprain) and Jericho Cruz (hyperextended left knee) and also had star guard Paul Lee fouling out with still a full quarter to go.
All those contributed to SMB getting off to an early 12-point lead and even posting a couple of 22-point leads in the second half, the last at 99-77.
In the end, the Beermen finished with a 59-37 advantage off the boards with Fajardo’s 10 offensive rebounds almost equaling the E-Painters’ 12 total.
“We’re a strong team and this is what we are capable of doing,” said Lassiter, who set the tone for the Beermen with 10 of his points coming in the opening quarter.
“When we put it together it looks like this, so we just got to keep on playing the whole 48 minutes and play strong defense,” added Lassitter.
A heart-to-heart talk between Austria and his players following a 106-111 loss last Saturday also did not hurt.
“We were able to solve our first quarter,” Austria pointed out. “This time the players really followed our gameplan. I’m happy they responded.
“They had a different approach to this game siguro because we’re on the brink of elimination. Mahirap ng makabalik sa 3-1 (deficit). But now we were able to tie it.”
How to come up with such a fiery drive for the remainder of the series is the biggest question for the protagonists.
“There are a lot of things that didn’t go our way. But we’d play better on Wednesday,” said Guiao, who also expects Cruz to be back in harness by then.
“For us it’s really hard, kasi this is a best-of-seven at everyday nasa basketball court ka. You cannot perfect agad in practice kung anong adjustment ang ginawa mo,” said Austria.
“But these players are used to this kind of a situation. At 2-2 it’s anybody’s ballgame, but what’s important is these players now have momentum because they know we can win this series, unlike if we dropped to 3-1.”
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