MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel finds itself in a precarious situation so close to their quest for a rare PBA grand slam.
The Beermen enter the Governors’ Cup quarterfinals facing a twice-to-win disadvantage against full-strength Barangay Ginebra, tackling this do-or-die matchup with Arwind Santos, Kelly Nabong and Ronald Tubid and even original import Dez Wells out of the equation in the aftermath of their scuffle in practice.
But coach Leo Austria, whose wards missed out on the quarters incentive when it lost to TNT Ka-Tropa in the last day of elims, 109-114, expressed belief his battle-scarred wards would be fine.
“You can see (in the game against TNT) the morale is so high, everybody’s inspired. We’re taking what happened to us (fight among players) positively. It’s a normal thing that can happen to any team, whether it’s the PBA or NBA, so I think with how we played Wednesday night, we didn’t show the effect of that incident,” said Austria.
“Everybody was so eager to win, eager to contribute. As I told them, this is a test of character for us, something that could develop our character,” he added.
The shorthanded Beermen trailed by as many as 18 points but bravely fought back and even took a 108-107 lead on a triple by John Holland before KJ McDaniels countered with a booming trey, two free thows and a big block on Holland to seal it for TNT.
The loss relegated the Beermen to No. 5 and a date with the No. 4 Gin Kings, who only need to win on Sunday to shatter SMB’s triple crown bid.
“It’s a do-or-die game and tough matchup for us. Ginebra, if you remember before when we were aiming for the grand slam also, they beat us and stopped our goal. But the chance is still there. We’re happy we’re still in contention in the quarterfinals,” said Austria.
The SMB management on Friday announced the indefinite suspension of Santos, Nabong and Tubid to emphasize the company’s commitment to “higher standard of professionalism and sportsmanship at all times.” Wells was also let go, forcing the team to stick with Holland.
“Arwind’s a big part of our team and he can help us in so many ways. But we have to accept the reality, we can’t tolerate what happened and although it’s internal, we have to send a strong signal that nobody’s above the policy of the company,” Austria said.
Austria said he has no say even if he wants to lift the trio’s suspension sooner.
“I don’t know, I can’t decide on that. It’s an organizational decision. Maybe it’s a minor setback but moving forward I think it will help us a lot as it’s a strong signal that you can’t do something silly and also make us realize everyone should think of the team first before himself,” the SMB mentor said.