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[av_heading heading=’Kings seeks equalizer vs Beermen in Game 2′ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Sunday, February 26, 2017
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MANILA – San Miguel Beermen is bracing for a huge response from the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings in Game 2 of the 2016-2017 Oppo PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven finals tonight at the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena City.
Beermen head coach Leo Austria said he has cautioned his players from becoming overconfident following their one-sided 109-82 victory in Game 1 on Friday night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
“This is just the first game. Knowing (Kings head) coach Tim Cone, nasa second game plan na siya e. Game 2, they will come back stronger,” said Austria, who steered the Beermen to three PBA titles.
Beermen zoomed to an early 21-4 lead in the series opener, thanks to early baskets by Alex Cabagnot and Marcio Lassiter.
It later grew to 60-39 at the half with contributions from Ilonggo Ronald Tubid, June Mar Fajardo and Arwind Santos.
The Beermen continued its dominance in the second half with hits from Fajardo, Santos, Chris Ross and Cabagnot to push the lead to its largest at 85-49 on a five straight points by Gabriel Espinas.
“The war is not yet over dahil alam nila kung gaano kaimportante ang all-Filipino (title),” added Austria. “Alam rin natin na ang Ginebra kayang bumawi niyan kaya sabi ko sa mga players ko na i-maintain ‘yung aggressiveness namin.”
Austria pointed out Cone’s ploy of resting his starters LA Tenorio, Solomon Mercado and Japeth Aguilar in Game 1, a ploy that has worked for the Kings against the Star Hotshots in the semifinals.
“Pinahinga na nila ‘yung starters nila ng maaga cause alam nilang swerte kami kanina e,” Austria said. “We know Coach Tim is a great coach. He knows what to do in this situation.”
Game 1, he said, was “not an assurance that you will win the series but it gave you psychological advantage,” he added. “They can be down 0-1, 0-2, 0-3 it doesn’t matter. There’s always a possibility that they can come back because we have proven that.”/PN
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