As a San Miguel Beermen fan, I was disappointed at the result of last night's game against Ginebra. San Miguel had an off night and Ginebra played well.
Many say that the Beermen placed themselves in this position when they squandered a huge lead against the Meralco Bolts and allowed them to come back, ending up as the 6th seed instead of as the 2nd seed. And because of that, they had to try to survive two do-or-die games against the Gin Kings.
Ginebra has been scary since the return of Greg Slaughter in their line up. And Coach Tim Cone has utilized him in what I call the Ginebra four-headed monster where he plays Slaughter, Aguilar, Devance, and Brownlee all at the same time - all tall players, with a single guard like Tenorio, or Thompson. I've even seen a case where Ferrer comes in to substitute one of the four bigs. Brownlee, can slide to the off-guard position or even the point guard position, and with three bigs dominating the paint on defense, even an inside offensive threat like Jun Mar Fajardo can find it difficult. And having bigger players allowed them to defend against Marcio Lassiter and Arwind Santos from three point line.
This combination also forced Coach Leo Austria to play with only two of his guards at a time. But I think that having Lassiter, Cabagnot, and Ross all on the floor at the same time is the key to San Miguel Beer's success. The three guard formation allows for fluidity on offense, helping them find the open man and not forcing their offense only through Jun Mar Fajardo. By playing his bigs, Coach Tim Cone forced Coach Austria to adjust to their game, instead of the other way around.
Many of the PBA teams are actually imitating the San Miguel Beermen's design, having three guards and one post threat. NLEX, Black Water, TNT, Star and even Meralco have tried having three guard formations with Eram or imports like Onuaku. Perhaps, teams will now shift their team designs to have four-headed monsters seeing how effective this was against the Beermen.
Fatigue could also have been a factor to the early exit of the Beermen from the Governor's Cup. They have won the Philippine Cup and the Commissioner's Cup this year. As players, it is probably hard to maintain being driven when you've already achieved a semblance of success. Even some of the PBA fans want to see a different team win - to give others a chance, and if you are a part of San Miguel, that can be demoralizing.
Some fans even had conspiracy theories that Ginebra, being San Miguel's sister team, would just allow them to win so that they could continue their Grand Slam campaign. But this loss just proves that there's no collusion between sister teams in the PBA - at least when it comes to important games. (Maybe there are in terms of trades, but that would be difficult to prove)
You could see that the San Miguel Beer core was tired. Ross, Cabagnot, and Santos' numbers were down. Even these guys probably want to go on vacation early. And without a supporting cast who can step-up in times when your core is slumping, San Miguel really had no chance at a come back. I felt that if they tried to load up on shooters at the beginning of the second half, they might have had a chance. But Ginebra took away their 3-point shooting and Ginebra's shooters were the ones delivering the goods. Props to Brownlee, Mercado, and Devance who gunned the Beermen down from the 3-point line.
And as for Watson, he tried his best. But trading two-point baskets was not a formula for a come back. And with the Beermen defense being absent from the game, the rest, as they say is history.
But this loss can also help the Beermen. This will be their drive for doing better next year. With a healthy and solid core, and perhaps, trusting a few more players from the bench, they can regain their Championship poise, and try another Grand Slam run. Their core is known as the only team that has ever come back from a 0-3 deficit in the finals in basketball history. The Beermen can still become better. And as the saying goes, the hungrier team - the team that wants it more - usually wins.
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