MIXERS OUT TO AVERT FALLING INTO 1-3 HOLE
Is 48 hours enough time for San Mig Coffee to undo what has happened?
“We’re gonna throw this game out the window and focus on the next one,” said San Mig coach Tim Cone after Petron Blaze demolished the Mixers, 90-68, in Game 3 of the PLDT-Telpad PBA Governors’ Cup Finals Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
That savage beating gave the now supremely confident Boosters a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 championship series and flung the flailing Mixers against the ropes going to Game 4 at 8 p.m. Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Whether wobbly San Mig can get out of the corner in time before the Boosters administer a second wave of punishment will be known Friday night.
Hopefully, the Mixers have learned their lessons.
Grossly mistaken in thinking they could match Formula 1 power with the Boosters, San Mig burst out of the starting line two days ago at breakneck speed and quickly ran out of gas as in Game 1.
“As I’ve said before, against this team, we have to be firing on all cylinders,” Cone said during the post-game interview after the Mixers got run over.
San Mig didn’t just coughed fumes from misfiring spark plugs, it eventually came to an abrupt halt after the first half.
“They were great, we were not,” said Cone in an all-encompassing post-game analysis.
Asked what specifically went wrong, Cone said “nothing specific, everything just went wrong.”
Starting with San Mig allowing Elijah Millsap, the Petron import, to have his way as he pleased (28 points , 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals), and Junmar Fajardo to throw his weight around (19 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists).
Slow in covering open shooters, San Mig also paid the price as Petron hit 10 of 24 treys, with Millsap draining 5 and Dennis Miranda, coming off the bench early with top playmaker Alex Cabagnot injured, back-to-back in the second quarter.
“We just tinkered with some adjustments after we lost Game 2,” said Petron coach Gee Abanilla.
Whatever they were, the Mixers missed 13 of 15 three-point attempts, got out-hustled under the offensive glass for the first time in the series, and gave up six more turnover points from 19 miscues, four each by Marqus Blakely and James Yap, who was 0 for 3 from 3-point range.
While Petron didn’t drop any 41-point fourth quarter bomb in a quarter this time, the Boosters did wipe out all resistance in the first half after spraying the Mixers with seven three-point shots on the way to a 55-30 halftime lead.
The Mixers were outscored, 27-10, in the second period and managed just 33 percent (12 of 36) from the field in the first 24 minutes.
Petron hardly missed the services of Cabagnot, who watched the game in crutches to take the load off the inflamed plantar fasciitis (ligament) in the sole of his right foot.
Abanilla said that while he doesn’t want to aggravate Cabagnot’s injury, his immediate return would be most welcome.
“He’s day-to-day as of now but we’re hoping he’d come back ASAP,” Abanilla said.
This isn’t a swan song yet for San Mig, but it’s terribly close.
Unless the Mixers can find ways to match the Boosters’ brute strength and mental toughness to avert a looming one-sided series, this could be over as early as it started in Game 3 – with San Mig served hot and but losing steam and turning flat the rest of the way. (WJRHT)
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