Coaches on collision course

From the looks of their credentials, the opposing coaches in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals are quite a distance apart. San Miguel Beer coach Leo Austria, 60, has won championships in the PBL, ABL and PBA while Magnolia coach Chito Victolero, 42, is still seeking his first crown. Austria was the PBA’s Rookie of the Year in 1985 and played in 394 games, averaging 4.3 points, over nine seasons with Shell and Pepsi. Victolero was Sta. Lucia Realty’s second round pick in the 2002 draft and suited up in only 79 contests, averaging 1.5 points, in three campaigns with the Realtors and FedEx.

Austria learned from the best in the business, the late Ron Jacobs whom he played for on the Philippine squad that captured the Asian Youth title in 1982 with Joseph Uichico and Hector Calma. Victolero learned from another coaching legend Alfrancis Chua whom he played for on the Stag Pale Pilsen team that won a PBL grandslam and on the Sta. Lucia squad. Austria coached Shell for a season and Welcoat for two seasons in the PBA without much success. He also piloted Adamson to three Final Four finishes in seven UAAP campaigns. His big break came when he steered Petron to the ABL championship in 2013 and that led to his job at San Miguel. Since taking over the San Miguel reins in 2014-15, Austria has brought five titles to the franchise in nine conferences. He is undefeated in five Finals.

Victolero joined the PBA coaching ranks in 2014-15 with the Kia staff. He took over from Glenn Capacio as de facto head coach after one conference until Chris Gavina was named as his replacement. When the Purefoods franchise sought a replacement for Jason Webb as head coach, Victolero was the perfect choice. He had San Miguel sports director Chua’s trust as they’ve worked together in the past and was backed up by an all-star cast of assistants. Webb became first assistant with Johnny Abarrientos taking care of the guards, Juno Sauler focusing on defense, Itoy Esguerra concentrating on the bigs, TonyBoy Espinosa tracking statistical data, Mon Jose in charge of video and Paul Sorongon on top of scouting the opposing teams. Representing Magnolia in the PBA Board of Governors is Rene Pardo while PBA legend Alvin Patrimonio is team manager.

On the San Miguel side, Austria’s lieutenants are Peter Martin as first assistant, Biboy Ravanes, Dayong Mendoza, Boycie Zamar, Ato Agustin and Jorge Gallent. The San Miguel PBA governor is Robert Non and Gee Abanilla is the team manager. No doubt, both teams are stacked with crack support groups.

The Finals is a classic matchup between the league’s No. 1 offensive team San Miguel, norming 98.7 points, and the No. 1 defensive team Magnolia, holding opponents to an average of 85.2 a game. The Beermen are No. 1 in field goal percentage (44.7), No. 1 in blocks (5.8), No. 3 in fastbreak points (16.6), No. 1 in least free throws allowed (16.2) and No. 2 in most assists allowed (22.5). In contrast, the Hotshots are No. 1 in three-point percentage (34.9), No. 3 in turnover points (19.3), No. 1 in least rebounds allowed (45.8) and No. 3 in least fastbreak points allowed (11.2). From the numbers, it appears that San Miguel has difficulty defending the extra pass, gambles in surrendering triples and is stingy in giving up free throws while Magnolia recovers quickly to stop transition points, cracks down on opposing rebounders and is no slouch in protecting the perimeter.

The stats also show that on the whole, Magnolia wins in a low-scoring, defense-oriented game while San Miguel thrives in a high-scoring, offense-oriented game. However, when they met in the eliminations, San Miguel prevailed, 77-76, in a dogfight where Magnolia frittered away a 16-point lead. San Miguel’s biggest lead of four came with less than 10 seconds left. The outcome was an indication that in the Finals, expect the unexpected. The team that is able to impose its will and style on the other consistently throughout the series will win the championship. If it’s a long series, Magnolia has a slight chance to prevail. But in a short series, San Miguel won’t be denied.

San Miguel enters Game 1 of the Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum tonight five days from ending Barangay Ginebra’s conference in the semis. Magnolia finished off NLEX in their semis series last Tuesday so the Hotshots aren’t as fresh. Magnolia, however, has a deeper rotation than San Miguel. In the conference so far, not a single Hotshot is averaging at least 30 minutes a game. The exception is Marc Pingris who logged 30.7 before his injury in Game 1 of the semis. That means the minutes are spread out among the Hotshots.