King reigns for SMB

MANILA, Philippines —  For a change, San Miguel Beer sits on a good spot at this stage of the preliminaries of an import-flavored conference.

No problem in reinforcement, no cramming for late wins in order to join the march to the playoffs like in the last two Commissioner’s Cup campaigns.

With George King proving a royal fit, the Beermen picked up their seventh victory in nine matches in the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup with a 144-113 demolition of Titan Ultra last night at Ynares Center-Antipolo.

Now on an extended three-game streak, SMB virtually assured itself of one of the four seats to the quarterfinals up for grabs in Group A with still three matches to spare.

“The players are enjoying playing with one another and it seems to me nagkakaroon na sila ng chemistry,” said coach Leo Austria after meeting their objective before the league takes a break next week to give way to Gilas Pilipinas’ FIBA World Cup Qualifiers and Asian Games stints.

Austria took notice of the bench’s performance and “almost balanced scoring” in their last three outings and lauded his charges for their 34 assists and 69 rebounds against the Giant Risers (2-7).

“I think it’s a great sign na the players really want to win, especially going to the break.  Alam namin makakuha kami ng seven wins before the break, at least 90 percent siguro we’ll be in the quarterfinals with three games remaining (in the October resumption),” he said.

Their current 7-2 card shows a stark contrast to the Beermen’s situations in the previous reinforced tournaments.

In the Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup, they fielded four imports and couldn’t save their campaign after a 3-4 start, ending at 5-7 and missing the Last-8 altogether. The next edition saw them go through two reinforcements before Bennie Boatwright made his long-awaited comeback, climbing out of a 4-5 opening to make the quarters at 7-5 and sixth seed. They eventually bowed to twice-to-beat No. 2 Rain or Shine.

King delivered 39 points.