READY FOR TREBLE RUN
Two weeks after winning a second straight title, San Mig Super Coffee starts the chase for a treble as the Mixers mix it up with the GlobalPort Batang Pier in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Wednesday.
“Although our break between conferences was about the same as the last one, we feel better prepared to start the conference this time around,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone.
“And although the guys are a bit worn out, we’ve got our health intact and a high energy import who has joined us,” added Cone, confident of a good shot at a hat trick.
“We’re ready to fight for this championship,” Cone declared on the eve of their first game in the mid-season tourney.
The Mixers are in the running for a rare “back-to-back-to-back” feat after winning the last Governors’ Cup crown against the San Miguel Beermen (then called the Petron Blaze Boosters) and the Philippine Cup diadem versus the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.
For the record, no team has won three consecutive championships in the league since San Miguel, under coach Jong Uichico, ruled the 2000 Commissioner’s Cup then the succeeding Governors’ Cup and the 2001 All-Filipino tourney.
San Mig Coffee itself had never won back-to-back titles until annexing the last Governors’ Cup and the recent Philippine Cup.
To help the Mixers accomplish a treble is James Dixon Mays, a highly regarded player from Clemson U.
The 6-foot-9 center/forward, with an ACC-All Tournament Second Team citation, came in fresh from a stint with the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the NBA D-League.
Left undrafted during the 2008 NBA Draft, he instead started his pro career with the Colorado 14ers of the D-League before playing the next five years in China, Puerto Rico and Turkey.
As he returned to the D-League with a stint with the Maine Red Claws, Mays made the Prospects All-Star roster for the 2013 NBA D-League All-Star Game. He then joined the San Antonio Spurs in the 2013 NBA Summer League.
He was an early bird here, witnessing the Mixers’ conquest of the E-Painters in the Philippine Cup Finals.
In his PBA debut, Mays faces PBA veteran Evan Brock. (SB)
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