DEFENDING champion San Miguel Beer (SMB) shoots for a pivotal 2-1 lead when the Beermen clash with the TNT Tropang 5G in Game 3 of the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup Finals on Sunday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Both squads split their first two games in the title series.
TNT took Game 1, 96-91, but SMB scored a vengeful 111-92 victory in Game 2 last Friday.
With their confidence back, the Beermen will go all out in grabbing another win in their 7:30 p.m. encounter.
Don Trollano stood at the forefront of San Miguel’s massive first-half offensive as he went on to finish with 22 points on the way to earning Best Player of the Game honors.
“My mindset was to make up for my bad game in Game 1,” said Trollano, who only had four points on an anemic 1-of-7 shooting in the series-opening match.
“I just had it in my mind that we can’t afford to be down by two games so I gave my best to help the team.”
True enough, the PBA Press Corps Mr. Quality Minutes awardee delivered big time to serve as the Beermen’s reliable scoring weapon, while aiding star center June Mar Fajardo, who finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds.
“Biggest impact tonight was our defense. Unlike last game, we had a lot of energy and we’re focused on the game,” said Beermen coach Leo Austria.
Again, San Miguel will be relying on its bench depth that includes Jericho Cruz, CJ Perez, Chris Ross, Marcio Lassiter and Juami Tiongson.
TNT, on the other hand, will try to bounce back quick with Jordan Heading, Rey Nambatac, Calvin Oftana, Poy Erram, Kelly Williams, Henry Galinato and Kevin Ferrer leading the way.
But then again, Game 3 will be a matter of adjustments, with TNT coach Chot Reyes expected to review what went wrong and what they need to do to avoid making the same mistakes.
One thing for sure, TNT’s frontline will have to do a better job putting the body on San Miguel’s bigs, considering the Beermen dominated the boards, 50-35, in Game 2.
The Beermen also outscored the Tropang 5G in points inside the paint, 52-26, another key department that Reyes will try to address in Game 3.