With the pivotal series lead on the line, expect San Miguel Beer and Magnolia to hold nothing back as they go at it again in their competitive finals’ showdown in the 2019 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup.
The series is leveled at 2-2 and the scheduled Game 5 at 7 p.m. today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum will be a pivotal point for both protagonists.
After squaring up the series by taking Game 4 dominantly, 114-98, San Miguel Beer coach Leo Austria is finally seeing the fight that he seeks from his wards.
“Everybody is now more focused. We’re showing team effort now and this is the kind of game that we’re looking for in the team,” said Austria. “We know the importance of this next game that’s why we need to keep that kind of level.”
Behind now six-time All-Filipino Best Player of the Conference June Mar Fajardo, the Beermen easily out-wrestled the Hotshots in Game 4 following a much efficient showing on both ends.
Fajardo dished out a monster double-double effort with 31 points and 14 rebounds in Game 4 to make sure his “six-peat-seeking” squad is on equal-footing heading to Game 5.
Even after dropping Game 4 in lopsided fashion, the Hotshots still like where they are right now.
“In the first place, all we want is a chance against San Miguel Beer and at this point, we have that,” said Magnolia ace spitfire Paul Lee. “If there’s a chance in the end, we’ll definitely try to grab it.”
For Hotshots’ coach Chito Victolero, his team’s defensive sting needs to comeback for them to have a better chance at taking Game 5.
“Hindi kami puwede makipag-sabayan sa kanila on offense that’s why it’s a matter of bringing our defensive mindset, something we were not able to do the last game,” said Victolero.
Mark Barroca and Rafi Reavis were at the forefront of Magnolia’s critical 86-82 win over San Miguel in Game 3 last Sunday night to earn a key lead in the series.
Austria lamented the Beermen’s poor performance in two facets of that game—bad shooting and bad rebounding—key factors which they fixed to bounce back bigtime in the fourth game.
