SMB coach cites Jacobs influence

MANILA, Philippines - San Miguel Beer coach Leo Austria said yesterday while he relies on his key players to lead the charge in every game, the door is always open for relievers to step up and show they deserve more time on the floor because that’s what he learned through experience from the late Ron Jacobs.

“That’s coach Ron’s style,” he said. “You earn your playing time. In 1982, when I was a point guard with Hector (Calma), Derick (Pumaren) and Louie (Brill) on the Philippine youth team, I worked for my slot and coach Ron made me a starter in the final against China. In the PBA, coaches think that if June Mar (Fajardo) is stopped, they have a good chance of beating us. But we’re not only about June Mar. Aside from our other starters, we’ve got players like Ronald (Tubid), Gabby (Espinas), R. R. (Garcia) and Yancy (de Ocampo) contributing. If we sit down our starters, the guys off the bench must earn their time. If we lose momentum with our second or third unit, we’ll bring back the key players.”

San Miguel is on top of the PBA Philippine Cup ladder with a 7-1 mark and a six-game win streak. The Beermen’s next game is against Rain Or Shine on Friday then it will be GlobalPort in Cebu City on Jan. 21 and TNT KaTropa on Jan. 28. San Miguel is only a win away from locking up a twice-to-beat advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

“I think Rain Or Shine, TNT and Ginebra are the toughest teams,” said Austria. “We were lucky to beat Ginebra. That was crucial for us because we have three hard games coming up. Now, at least, we need just one more win to get the twice-to-beat advantage. GlobalPort and Alaska are also contenders. We’re aware of what’s at stake. If we win this conference, it will be the third straight Philippine Cup championship for San Miguel, that’s a Grand Slam and the prize is the perpetual trophy. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime and we want to be a part of history.”

The ultimate goal is why Alex Cabagnot is deferring surgery to repair his broken nose. He’ll play the rest of the conference with a face mask and undergo surgery when it’s over. There will be a healing time of at least six weeks after the operation so Cabagnot will miss the first few games of the Commissioner’s Cup.

Austria said barely beating Ginebra, 72-70, was a relief at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last Sunday. “Coach Tim (Cone) wanted to outrun us,” he said. “They did a good job of stopping June Mar who had only nine points (breaking his streak of consecutive double figure scoring) We played Blackwater last Friday so we didn’t get too much practice time to adjust. If this was a series, you’ll see adjustments. But last Sunday, June Mar posted up a lot, drawing the double and kicking out. With more preparation, we’ll do more pick-and-rolls and hi-lows with June Mar. They also extended their defense to make it hard for us to hit our outside shots. We’re not really a running team. We like to go to June Mar in the half-court but we’ll run if there’s an opportunity off bad shots or turnovers.”

After San Miguel erected a 10-point lead, 72-62, Ginebra countered with an 8-0 blast but ran out of time. “The guys refused to lose,” he said. “Ginebra is No. 1 in defense but we showed we can also win in a low-scoring, defensive game. Ginebra played Aljon Mariano at four, Joe De Vance at three and Japeth Aguilar at five. Arwind (Santos) was our four but cross-matched against De Vance. In the coming games, we might play Gabby at four and Arwind at three with June Mar at five. We have a lot of options because we also use Ronald and Marcio (Lassiter) at three but they can slide down to two. Against Blackwater, Mac Belo and Art de la Cruz were playing three or four so we matched up with Ronald and Arwind. We rely on outside shooting to open up space for June Mar inside so it’s critical for Ronald, Alex and Marcio to knock down their perimeter shots.”

Austria said Chris Ross is San Miguel’s glue guy at point guard. “Chris is very vocal and he’s our leader on the floor,” he said. “With Chris, Alex can focus on playing two. When we need shooters on the floor, we use Alex at one, Marcio at two and Ronald at three. It helps our rotation that R. R. is around. R. R. had good games against Alaska (13 points), Mahindra (9) and NLEX (12) but we’re still waiting for him to play more consistently.”

Austria said he realizes his rotation isn’t deep with four players averaging at least 30 minutes a game. “My rotation depends on the bench,” he said. “If the players off the bench perform, they’ll stay in the game. If not, it’s back to our key players. In the NBA, teams play an 82-game regular season and superstars like LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and James Harden average 35 minutes a game. In the PBA, we play only 11 games in the eliminations so you expect the stars to average a lot of minutes.”

Espinas has been the surprise of the conference, scoring 22 points against Blackwater and leading the team in three-point shooting with 5-of-7 from beyond the arc. Tubid is averaging 10.2 points in San Miguel’s last five games. Garcia is hitting at a 6.6 clip. De Ocampo, Keith Agovida, Jay-R Reyes, Rashawn McCarthy and Gilas rookie Arnold Van Opstal provide more depth to Austria’s rotation.