Anatomy of a massacre

OKINAWA – PBA Philippine Cup champion San Miguel Beer and runner-up TNT represented the pro league in the five-day, eight-team EASL Champions Week that ended here last Sunday, both finishing at the bottom of their brackets with 0-2 records. There were 10 games played in the tournament with the PBA squads seeing action in four. San Miguel bowed to Japanese B-League (JBL) runner-up Ryukyu, 96-68, and Korean Basketball League (KBL) runner-up Anyang, 142-87. TNT fell to JBL titlist Utsunomiya, 99-66, and KBL ruler Seoul, 80-69.

The closest either team came to winning was when TNT was only two points behind Seoul entering the fourth period. San Miguel made it to the Final Four in the previous EASL competition called Terrific 12 in Macao in 2019 but couldn’t duplicate the finish. The Beermen were demolished by 55 points in a rout where Anyang built up its quotient anticipating a tie for first with Ryukyu. Here are 10 reasons why San Miguel and TNT were humiliated.

• Not used to playing with two imports. Chemistry was a pipe dream. PBA teams are comfortable with one import but adding another creates problems in the flow of execution on both ends. Two imports end up passing to each other while locals are watching to find out what happens.

• Not used to playing against two imports. Defending two imports familiar with their team system was a challenge. In the JBL, teams are allowed to play two imports plus either a naturalized player or an Asian heritage recruit. In the KBL, teams are allowed to line up two imports with one to play at a time. In the Taipei Plus League, teams are allowed to play two imports up to the third quarter then only one in the fourth.

• Unfamiliar conditions. In Utsunomiya, the temperatures plunged to freezing numbers. PBA teams had to adjust from the warm climate at home. For San Miguel, the movement from Utsunomiya to Okinawa by plane was tough. The one-day interval between games for TNT and San Miguel wasn’t enough to get their bearings.

• Fatigue factor. Playing in the PBA then in EASL had to be draining. The Beermen came from playing five games in 10 days and TNT five games in 11 days. June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez went double time practicing and playing with Gilas while Jericho was in Mongolia to play for Guam. Calvin Oftana and Kelly Williams were also with Gilas. That grind had to take a toll.

• Injuries. Fajardo limped off the court with a painful left knee after it was banged in only 21 seconds of play in his first EASL game. Chris Ross twisted his knee in the same contest. Both sat out their next outing. Adding to San Miguel’s woes was Terrence Romeo’s absence. Jayson Castro hurt his wrist against Utsunomiya and skipped the next contest. Both teams submitted 12-man lineups, not 16 as in the PBA, so injuries caused major depletions.

The next five factors will be discussed in tomorrow’s column.