The clamor for the San Miguel Beermen to go for a grand slam continues.
And this time, members of the team and coach Leo Austria may just accept the challenge given to them by the management and their fans.
Austria said that with an intact lineup that they have going into Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup, the Beermen may just be able to pull it off.
“Since we won the first and second conference, we have a chance to go for a grand slam. We will try our best,” said Austria.
Austria said this during the team’s victory party Tuesday at the SMC main office in Mandaluyong City.
San Miguel Brewery president Bobby Huang reminded the team of this clamor from employees and fans during the celebrations.
“Ipapaalala ko lang ang aking munting kahilingan. Simple lang. Isang grand slam,” said Huang.
A few months back, fans and management made clamors for the San Miguel Beermen to go for the grand slam before the start of the Commissioner’s Cup.
Now, Austria’s outlook has changed after the Beermen won over the TNT KaTropa, 102-90, in Game Six of their best-of-seven finals as they finished the finals’ series with a 4-2 slate.
During their game against the KaTropa, import Chris McCullough stepped up for San Miguel Beer with 35 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks.
The Beermen’s next challenge now is that they are one title away from duplicating their own 1989 and 2014 grand slams.
In 1989, the Beermen pulled it off with Mon Fernandez and Hector Calma leading the team, and coach Norman Black calling the shots. Twenty-five years later, the team duplicated the feat with coach Tim Cone steering the ship.
In the coming conference, San Miguel Beer is bringing in Dez Wells to help its cause.
The 27-year-old Wells is a 6’5” forward who played for Xavier and Maryland in the US NCAA.
He also played in the NBA G-League for the Oklahoma City Blue before taking his act to Greece and Italy, most recently.
“It will not be easy because every team in the PBA is preparing hard,” said Austria.
