Bumpy start dooms Beermen bid

Alta Sports8 hours ago · 164 views

Photo: PBA Images

By Art Ramirez

San Miguel coach Leo Austria rued the bumpy start that contributed to the Beermen's early exit in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) 50 Commissioner's Cup.

The Beermen were ousted by Rain or Shine, 113-104, in the quarterfinals last Saturday putting an end to their campaign after winning two straight championships in the Philippine Cup.

Austria lamented the poor start in which the Beermen began by losing two of their first three games including a defeat against Titan Ultra, 119-112, last March 21.

San Miguel also lost two straight times during the conference to Rain or Shine and Magnolia, the last game of which the Beermen played without an import after Justin Patton left the team.

“It is something to do with the start of the conference. We were struggling. Our losses to the teams at the bottom were costly. If we won, we would have been in the top four,” said Austria in Taglish.

Austria also observed that his team was complacent during the preparations, but one of the reasons for it was also due to injuries to his players.

“We were so complacent after winning the two championships after the all-Filipino. They thought that we can do it again. When June Mar (Fajardo), CJ (Perez), and Jericho (Cruz) came back from their national team duties, they had injuries. That was why our performance at the start was bad,” said Austria.

Bennie Boatwright was deployed back to San Miguel after Patton left the team, but the team still fell short.

“We were able to recover in the middle of the conference. It was a good thing that Bennie was able to come back. But still, we can really look back at our slow start,” said Austria.

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