MANILA – After tallying their breakthrough win in Game 3, the Alaska Aces are determined to knot the series when they face the Magnolia Hotshots in Game 4 of the 2018 PBA Governors’ Cup Finals on Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Aces import Mike Harris said that, even with their 100-71 victory over the Hotshots in Game 3 on Sunday, they are still wary of Magnolia’s response in their game set at 7 o’clock.
“I think now we got their attention a little bit more, but they have our attention as well. They lead 2-1 and now they get a day off and we know how (Magnolia) plays well when they’re fresh,” Harris said.
“We gotta be prepared. In the locker room, there’s no big celebration moment because we haven’t done anything. We just avoided going down 3-0. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and I think our guys responded well,” he added.
In Game 3 of the best-of-seven series Harris finally broke his offensive slump by finishing with 36 points – 22 coming in the third quarter alone – for the Aces, which are in search of their first PBA title since 2013.
Aside from Harris, Alaska guards Chris Banchero, Simon Enciso, Carl Bryan Cruz, and Abel Gallinguez also stepped up their presence to outplay Magnolia’s spitfires for the first time in the series.
“I think (Magnolia’s) guards still did a really good job,” Harris said. “But I just think we responded appropriately this time instead of letting them dictate where our offense will start. We will try to do that again in Game 4.”/PN
