Manuel admits Alaska struggled vs San Miguel in game 4: ‘Pinahirapan nila kami’
Vic Manuel rued Alaska’s missed chance to sweep the 2016 Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup Finals and admitted that their performance in the end game proved to be the Aces’ undoing.
“Yung fourth quarter, nag-relax kami tapos medyo puro turnover. Hindi kami maka-execute, hindi kami maka-basket,” he said on the heels of a 110-104 overtime loss to San Miguel on Sunday.
Motivated to close the series out, Manuel said that Aces may have gotten way ahead of themselves.
Failing to control their aggression, the Aces committed 21 turnovers, three of which coming in the final stretch of the overtime period. This, along with San Miguel’s relentless attack in the same stretch, took the fight out of the Aces in the endgame.
“Balak na talaga namin tapusin, kaso talagang yung San Miguel hindi rin nag-give up. Talagang lumaban rin sila, ang ganda ng laro nila, at pinahirapan nila kami,” aaid the hardworking forward.
Even with Cyrus Baguio draining a huge trey at the end of regulation to send the game to overtime, Alaska admittedly struggled against the defense of the Beermen.
“Ang ganda rin ng nilalaro ng San Miguel. Kailangan naming mag-execute kami ng tama kasi ang dami rin namin naging turnovers sa transition. Hindi namin nakuha yung mga 3-on-1 advantage, yung 3-on-2,” Manuel.
Still, the Aces are up in the series, 3-1, and will have another shot of closing the deal out on Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
For Manuel, what Alaska has to do is to go back to the winning formula that allowed it to grab the 3-0 advantage.
“Siguro gawin lang namin yung ginawa namin nung first three games, kung paano kami nanalo,” he said. “Kailangan siguro yung communication and execution namin mas maganda dapat sa Game 5.”
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