Magnolia Hotshots upbeat but still the underdog

MANILA, Philippines — Magnolia remains the underdog but will now be a lot more inspired group as it seeks a second straight win versus titleholder San Miguel Beer in Game Two of their PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven title playoff at the MOA Arena in Pasay City tonight.

Tip-off is at 6:30 p.m.

  “(We had a) good start in the series, and we’ve proved we can beat them. We have to keep believing in ourselves, follow the game plan and commit ourselves on playing defense, and I think we’ll have our chance,” said Magnolia coach Chito Victolero.

Magnolia center/forward Ian Sangalang said they love being the underdogs.

“We have nothing to lose and, thus, we’re playing without pressure at all. It helps us as we’re just playing our game. Whatever happens, we’ll just come out and play,” said Sangalang, the main man with 29 points and nine rebounds in their amazing 105-103 come-from-behind win in the series opener.

Victolero and Sangalang said they’re coming out with the same mindset and the same schemes as they try to build a 2-0 series lead.

Technically, Victolero said it’s more of playing defense.

“We can’t stop their main men but we would be happy to limit their numbers,” said Victolero.

 “We gave June Mar (Fajardo) different defensive looks so he would have a hard time reading the defense. We tried five to six different schemes. Hopefully, he’s not able to read it,” Victolero added.

In playing extra hard on defense towards the end, the Hotshots held the Beermen to 14 points after letting them explode for 63 in the first half then add 26 in the third.

Even Fajardo was contained in the clutch.

Fajardo piled up 31 points and 18 rebounds but committed crucial errors in facing double-teaming and even triple-teaming defense by the Hotshots. The 6-foot-10 SMB behemoth ended up with a third double-digit number with 11 turnovers.

San Miguel coach Leo Austria rued losing the game where they enjoyed a 20-point lead, but stayed positive.

“It’s a best-of-seven series and there’s still a lot of time to bounce back,” he said. “And we can use the loss as a wakeup call. Firstly, from the start, I really felt Magnolia won’t be an easy opponent.”

The Beermen were actually dominant until the Hotshots slowly worked their way to the fight then pulled off an escape act.

All playing extended minutes, SMB main men Fajardo, Arwind Santos, Marcio Lassiter and Alex Cabagnot looked spent in the stretch run.

Fajardo and Cabagnot both played over 42 minutes, Lassiter over 41 minutes and Santos nearly 40 minutes.

Austria, however, insisted his main men are used to playing long minutes.

He admitted though that the mere one-point output of their bench factored in the game. The Hotshots reserves, for their part, produced 47 points.