San Miguel enters the Asean Basketball League playoffs as the top-seeded team in the league, owning a splendid win-loss carta of 19Ws – 3Ls.
They capped-off their run on a strong note, running over every team on the conference with a 16-game winning streak. But that brilliant run won’t really matter if they don’t make it all the way to their ultimate goal: To
take home the Asean Basketball League championship to our country and get crowned as the kings of the ABL.
The Beermen have paved their way being the team-to-beat this season, clinching the top spot and a play-off berth during the process in the Final Four by breaking the ABL’s record on the longest winning streak by a team after their outstanding 16 consecutive victories.
But Beermen Coach Leo Austria stressed that all those Ws won’t mean a thing if they won’t go through all the way to the Finals and win the championship.
“Our 16-game winning streak is not a guarantee that we will be the champion,” said Austria during Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association forum at Shakey’s Malate. “We will try to refocus ourselves because the playoff is a different ballgame,” he added.
Even Beermen big man Asi Taulava couldn’t help but agree with what his head coach is saying, he doesn’t even consider their four-game sweep during the regular season on the Thailand Slammers – their first playoff opponent – as a major factor when they play them Thursday at the Philsports Arena for Game One of the best-of-five series of the semifinal round.
“It’s back to zero. It’s a best-of-five right now and we need to prepare ourselves and play San Miguel basketball,” said the Beermen center.
The Beermen must clearly pay attention to Slammers import and top point-getter Christien Charles and former SMB point man Froilan Baguion. They must draw a solid game plan focusing their defense on these two top players of the Thailand Slammers in order to keep their win-steak alive.
They need to minimize the output of Charles, especially on the paint, and stop the ball movement by giving Froilan a hard time setting it up on the passing lanes.
The last time the Philippines won the ABL title was during the opening season in 2009-2010, since then, no Philippine team has nabbed the championship again.
But Beermen star point guard Chris Banchero strongly believes that things are about to change right now. Banchero – a clear favorite to win this season’s ABL Most Valuable Award – is just coming back from an injury, but he says that he’s all healed and it’s all green lights for him to go back on the court and help his team win a championship.
With a record-breaking winning streak and the return of their star point guard, the San Miguel Beermen really gain a great momentum moving forward into the playoffs – hopefully, that momentum can also bring them all through the ABL Finals.
The Beermen will host the Thailand Slammers for Game One Thursday, May 23, 2013 at the Philsports Arena, while Game Two is scheduled to be played on Saturday at the same venue.
Game Three will shift to Nimibutr Stadium in Bangkok, and a Game Four if necessary on May 28 and 30 respectively.
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Photo: ASEAN Basketball League
