MANILA, Philippines - San Miguel Beer and Purefoods clash for the fifth time tonight, disputing the crucial 3-2 lead in a series that has turned to be a duel of will and character in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinals at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Beermen and the Giants slug it out in a lone game at 7 p.m. with the Alaska Milk Aces having clinched the first slot in the finals on a four-game sweep of the Barangay Ginebra Kings in their own semis showdown.
Purefoods forced a 2-2 deadlock versus San Miguel on a 97-84 victory Wednesday and, thus, the burden of adjustments is back on the Beermen.
“Playoffs is about imposing your game against the other team, and Purefoods was able to do that in Games Two and Four,” said San Miguel coach Siot Tanquingcen.
With their series down to a best-of-three affair, the Beermen and the Giants are likely to go all-out to get tonight’s crucial game.
“It’s down to a best of three, and honestly I feel we have a legitimate crack with the way we’ve been playing and with the way we’ve been concentrating in trying to stop the mighty San Miguel team,” said Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio.
Tanquingcen, meanwhile, stressed they would be well if they’re able to play their game.
The series is tied at 2-2 with the Beermen imposing their will in Games One and Three, and the Giants able to make the necessary adjustments in Games Two and Four.
Gregorio’s biggest adjustment that worked well Wednesday was getting his other key players involved offensively.
Roger Yap had a near triple-double performance with Marc Pingris and Rafi Reavis churning out their own double-double efforts.
Actually, Gregorio has been rotating practically just eight men and it works to their advantage as against San Miguel’s powerhouse cast.
In Game Four, the Purefoods starting five of James Yap, Roger Yap, Kerby Raymundo, Pingris and Reavis all played at least 33 minutes each with Rico Maierhofer and Paul Artadi coming off the bench for role plays.
Tanquingcen, on the other hand, played no less than 10 players almost evenly with two other guys in Olsen Racela and Michael Holper also getting some minutes.
The Purefoods starters outscored their San Miguel counterparts, 79-44.
Before the semis, San Miguel was 2-0 versus Purefoods in the tourney, and the Beermen were heavily favored to win the series, having a much better performance in the elimination round.
Source: Nelson Beltran | Philstar.com
No comments:
Post a Comment