Having a 2-0 lead, you'ld think that the San Miguel Beermen would close out their semifinals series against the Alaska Aces. But instead of finishing off their opponent, San Miguel has given the Aces a chance to tie the series on Sunday. This, despite the Aces being undermanned and undersized.
The Beermen were sloppy in the waning minutes of the 3rd Quarter. They were mounting a comeback, being down nine points. They even cut the Aces lead down to 3 points. But Balkman uncharacteristically made a lot of careless turnovers for an NBA caliber player. Blame it on fatigue, perhaps, since he never got any rest from the 1st to the 3rd Quarter.
I don't know why the Beermen like to give their opponents a double digit lead early in the game. But this has turned into a habit since they have been able to catch up and win most of the games anyway. But today was not one of those days. Perhaps they Beermen were already too focused on who they would be facing in the finals, and their mistake was taken advantage of by Alaska. Alaska might even enter the finals if the Beermen are not careful. So SMB should refocus, take one game at a time, and make sure that they aren't thinking of anything else but the win for that game.
The Aces will be known as the team that the Beermen won over during their Beeracle Run. The Beermen were down 0-3 and were on the brink of being swept by the Aces, but the Beermen were able to win 4 straight games, the first time in basketball history.
The Aces will never change history, but perhaps they would want to do the same thing to the Beermen. Coming back from a 0-2 deficit in a 5 game series would definitely be easier compared to coming back from a 0-3 deficit.
The main threats to SMB are Diamon Simpson and Vic Manuel. If they are not going to stop Simpson, since Simpson seems to be able to have his way, at least they should prevent Manuel and other locals from scoring easily. Manuel already had a slight fever during the game, and still scored more than twenty points. Reminds me of the time Michael Jordan had the flu, but never gave up and fought for the win for Chicago.
The Beermen have to do a better job on defense. Stanhardinger and Balkman should focus on the intangibles instead of being the first option on scoring. If you look at the past games where Fajardo, Cabagnot, Lassiter, Santos and Ross played as the core five, they would always rotate the ball and find the open man. Sometimes, the Beermen rush offensive plays with Stanhardinger and Balkman which leads to careless errors and turnovers.
The Beermen also needs another guard in their rotation so that Cabagnot, Ross and Lassiter could get some rest. It is good that Heruela and Lanete were able to play. Perhaps give other shooting guards a chance. Coach Leo Austria could actually try a speedier line up to counter Alaska's press and pressure defense by having 4 guards with Jun Mar Fajardo. Having both Fajardo and Stanhardinger at the same time on the floor is simply too slow. Those two should alternate if Stanhardinger is really forced to play. But SMB was able to enter the semis with Stanhardinger injured. Perhaps he should sit out this series and let faster players like Ganuelas-Rosser and Arwind Santos play the 4 spot to give Balkman much needed rest during certain points in the game. Nabong could also replace Fajardo so that he, too could get some rest.
Alaska isn't a team with large players like Rain or Shine or Ginebra. You don't need to use Stanhardinger just because he is your prized rookie. He might be part of San Miguel's future core. But for now, stick with the veteran players who have been tried and tested in winning championships.
As for rumors of a Calvin Abueva for Christian Stanhardinger trade, I would just keep Stanhardinger. He hasn't been integrated well with the team yet, but even SMB's core had to learn how to play together, and that did not happen overnight. Stanhardinger should hone his defense. Perhaps Fajardo and Santos could teach the rookie how to defend well. Once his defense improves, his offense will probably follow. But I would utilize him as an import stopper. It would be great if he could be a Freddie Abuda type of player for SMB.
Abueva is already old and has too many issues that having him on the team might create more chaos than win games. Alaska should definitely trade him to another team. Alaska needs size, and maybe Rain or Shine or Blackwater would be willing to trade their big men for the beast. Even Phoenix might want to trade Eriobu for Abueva. Or Jackson Corpuz. Or Jonathan Grey. I would probably even look for a quality point guard for Alaska to succeed the aging Casio. But Alaska should build around Teng and Manuel, and move on from Abueva. They've reached the semis without the beast, so not having him around is probably better for the team.
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