MANILA – If there is one thing San Miguel Beermen wants to avoid in Game 4 of its PBA Philippine Cup Finals against injury-hit Magnolia Hotshots, it is complacency.
Beermen veteran Arwind Santos reminded his teammates not to take it easy with Magnolia despite their 2-1 best-of-seven series lead.
A win in the 7 o’clock match tonight at the Smart Araneta Coliseum tonight will pull Beermen closer to a fourth-consecutive All-Filipino Conference title – a feat not done by any PBA team yet.
“One game at a time lang kami. ’Di pa rin kami pwedeng maging over-kumpiyansa sa Magnolia,” Santos said. “Alam namin na magpe-prepare pa rin sila kaya may mga aayusin pa rin kami kahit nanalo kami.”
“Ang magandang nagawa namin noong Game 3 ay napangalagaan namin iyong kalamangan namin sa dulo,” he added. “Iyon iyong isa sa pinaghandaan namin, na ma-sustain namin iyong kalamangan, na hindi mahahabol ng kalaban.”
June Mar Fajardo, for his part, believes their wide-margin victories over Hotshots in Games 2 and 3 do not negate the fact that Hotshots remains a tough team.
“Sana maging focused ulit kami, hindi kami maging kampante sa next game namin kasi for sure iyong kabila bibigay nila iyong best talaga nila para manalo,” Fajardo said. “So ganoon din kami. Gusto nila manalo ng championship, kami din gusto din namin.”
The four-time PBA Most Valuable Player awardee added: “Hindi ganoon kadali iyong series na ito so kailangan namin paghandaan ng maayos ito. For sure hindi na papayag ang Magnolia na matambakan next game.”/PN
