MANILA – Magnolia Hotshots and San Miguel Beermen intend to continue this Holy Week their preparations for Game 3 of their PBA Philippine Cup Finals series on Easter Sunday.
The defending champion equalized the series 1-1 on Sunday night by rallying past Hotshots 92-77.
Hotshots head coach Chito Victolero gave his wards a two-day break but will get them back to practice from Holy Wednesday to Black Saturday.
“May training on Friday kasi medyo dikit na kasi sa Sunday so wala kaming magagawa doon. We need to practice on Good Friday,” Victolero told the press after their Game 2 loss.
Hotshots hopes to fix its errors in the first two games – particularly its tendency to fall behind early.
“Kapag lagi na maghahabol kami, hindi namin masu-sustain talaga,” Victolero said, adding that they will try to control the pace of the matches.
“So I hope we learn from these last two games. The good thing lang is tied iyong series,” he added.
Beermen gets a break just on Monday and will resume practicing starting Tuesday, head coach Leo Austria said.
“Definitely, we’ll give them a long rest, 24 hours,” Austria said on Sunday night. “Then we will practice on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
“Then maybe I will give them another day to reflect, dahil it’s Holy Week and baka magalit iyong nagbibigay sa amin ng blessings.
“Hindi kami pwedeng mag-relax, hindi namin pwedeng isipin na bakasyon iyong one week na iyon. Kailangang gamitin namin ng maayos para ready kami sa Game 3.”
Beermen is targeting a rare fourth consecutive All-Filipino Conference title while Hotshots is aiming at its first PBA title since completing a rare Grand Slam in 2014 under then head coach Tim Cone./PN
