For a 3rd straight game, San Miguel brandished its depth and located success. Only on Sunday night, the normal powerhouse did so to dethrone Barangay Ginebra and march on to a different trip to a Philippine Basketball Association championship series.
The Beermen, led by impressive stretch big import Bennie Boatwright Jr. and spark plug Jericho Cruz, slipped past the Gin Kings, 94-91, to tab the primary seat within the Commissioner’s Cup finalé.
Boatwright finished with 26 points and 13 rebounds as Cruz fired 17 off the bench to steer a second-half effort that kept the gang darlings in catch-up mode until the ultimate horn at Mall of Asia Arena.
“It was just composure,” head coach Jorge Gallent said of the triumph before an animated, partisan crowd of 15,126 on the bayside venue. While the Beermen’s steely nerves pulled them through, there was no denying that the club’s outrageous depth played a key role within the three-game sweep that was payback for his or her swift defeat by the hands of the Gin Kings within the last Governors’ Cup.
And Ginebra’s Tim Cone pointed a finger at where they got here up short.
“Whenever you’re [beaten] 3-0, the opposite team is doing something right. And like I’ve said, they were really well-coached they usually’re playing at a high level,” he told reporters with a somber tone as he made his way out of the team’s locker room.
‘Very deep’
“That’s a troublesome, tough team. They’re very deep as well. On the primary night, it was CJ (Perez), and the second night was (Marcio) Lassiter. Marcio had an ideal [game] again, but Cruz stepped up and hurt us tonight,” he went on.
Lassiter added 14 points that game. And with Boatwright Jr. and Cruz playing splendidly, reigning Most Beneficial Player June Mar Fajardo hardly needed to attain. He did, nonetheless, finish with 11 points to match Perez’s 11 because the Beermen booked a forty fourth Finals appearance.
“They’re well-balanced. They’ve got the in-and-out [option], they usually’ve got weapons across the two important guys. Like I’ve said, tough to beat,” Cone said of the Beermen.
“Our guys played hard. They played as hard as they may from the start. They couldn’t have played any harder. We did what we could. and as I’ve said, they made shots. Boatwright Jr., coming into this series, was averaging 45 points a game.”
The ultimate hurdle for the Beermen’s twenty ninth title will either be sister team Magnolia or Phoenix Super LPG.
That series is at 2-1 in favor of the Hotshots, who went down in flames after a 103-85 Game 3 defeat also on Sunday.
And Cone, now reduced to a spectator, feels it’s the opposite two teams that must be fearful.
“Any of those teams are gonna have a heck of a tough time beating San Miguel,” he said. INQ
