DEFENDING champion San Miguel Beer aims on inching closer to retaining its crown as it looks to grab a 3-1 lead over Barangay Ginebra in their best-of-seven championship series in the 2017 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup.
Game 4 of the finals is scheduled tonight at 7 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum with the Beermen looking to repeat over the Gin Kings to move closer to winning their third straight All-Filipino jewel.
San Miguel took the pivotal Game 3 last Wednesday night, 99-88, with a strong finish down the stretch after trailing by 12 points early in the second period.
Beermen coach Leo Austria cited the dominance of reigning Most Valuable Player (MVP) June Mar Fajardo, who wasn’t a factor in Game 2, in Game 3 that pushed them to victory and gave the team a much needed upper hand in the series.
“June Mar’s presence helped us. I’m happy to see him have more touches because it makes our team better and everything starts with him,” said Austria.
Chris Ross, Alex Cabagnot and Marcio Lassiter went with Fajardo as they all lifted San Miguel in Game 3.
Facing a familiar situation, Barangay Ginebra must now win to keep it a competitive series and avoid a huge hole.
The Best Player of the Conference (BPC) award will be awarded prior to tip-off of Game 4.
Fajardo is expected to receive the award, his fifth BPC plum in his career.
His impending win is bound to tie him with mentor and former teammate Danny Ildefonso with the most number of BPC awards in league history.