SMB poised to keep date with history
AS I was saying, the winner of Game 4 will proceed to win the PBA Philippine Cup. Bull’s-eye. It happened. Humbly, I am on course—thus far.
San Miguel Beer defeated Barangay Ginebra San Miguel on Friday—the Beermen’s 94-85 Game 4 victory giving the two-time defending champions an imposing 3-1 margin.
That moved SMB to within a game of retaining the crown it won back-toback from 2015.
Can SMB close it on Sunday and become a “threepeat” champ?
A Sunday win will give SMB the luxury of keeping the trophy forever—a rare feat reserved for a team pocketing the All-Filipino championship for three successive years.
At the rate the title showdown is going, it would seem SMB had gotten a vise-grip on the crown.
Look, as in their previous two victories in Games 1 and 3, the Beermen won Game 4 also with plenty to spare.
In Game 1, SMB massacred Ginebra by 27 points, 109-82.
That seemed to have dictated the tempo of the series: SMB as the overwhelming favorite.
In Game 3, SMB coasted to a 99-88 win after bungling a won-game in Game 2’s freak of a thriller.
In Friday’s Game 4, SMB sped to a spirit-dampening 20-2 margin, jacked this up to 26 points before going on cruise mode for that 94-85 victory.
The Beermen courted disaster in the fourth quarter, but it was as if by design that they slowed down on offense and allowed their huge margin to be cut to 9 points.
Experience carried SMB to calm waters, adroitly weathering the mini revolt provided by the spunk of Ginebra’s rookie-laden roster.
Rarely do we see the student (Ginebra) outsmarting the teacher (SMB).
Now facing a 1-3 wall, Tim Cone is hard-pressed to surmount yet the toughest challenge of his storied coaching career that has given him an all-time 19 titles. His crown cache includes two Grand Slams, a first in the 42-year history of the league.
Yes, Leo Austria has only three PBA titles to show in his four Finals stints, but with three chances to wrap up his fourth crown, pundits insist the SMB coach is on the stairway to heaven. Again.
Only a tragedy of incal- culable proportions—such as Alaska’s meltdown from 3-0 to a 3-4 loss to SMB last year—could cancel the Beermen’s date with history. Long shot.