MANILA – TNT
KaTropa and San Miguel Beermen will begin what is being dubbed as the most
explosive finals series in Game 1 of the 2019 Honda PBA Commissioner’s Cup
best-of-seven finals tonight at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The series opener is slated at 6:30 p.m.
The KaTropa is aiming for its first PBA title since 2015 while the Beermen eyeing its second PBA trophy this year to move closer to the targeted Grand Slam.
“San Miguel present problems. They obviously have a lot of guys who can score,” said KaTropa consultant Mark Dickel. “We got a great opportunity (to be in the PBA finals), I just don’t want to let this one go.”
Uttered Beermen mentor Leo Austria: “I think it will be tough to face them kasi alam nating they’re really playing in the highest level of basketball. They transformed their team into another high-caliber championship team.”
Both teams can go toe-to-toe the entire series, having former NBA players in Terrence Jones (KaTropa) and Chris McCullough (Beermen) as reinforcements.
The two teams also have talented backcourt with TNT relying on Jayson Castro, Ryan Reyes, Brian Heruela, Roger Pogoy, and Celedonio Trollano, while SMB will bank on Chris Ross, Alex Cabagnot, Terrence Romeo, and Von Pessumal.
The Beermen, however, will have the edge in terms of height with June Mar Fajardo, Christian Standhardinger, Kelly Nabong, Arwind Santos, and Matthew Ganuelas-Rosser at the forefront.
The KaTropa’s frontline, meanwhile, could not be discounted due to the outside accuracy of Jeth Troy Rosario, Anthony Washington, David Semerad, Anthony Semerad, and Yousef Taha.
This marks the first time Beermen and Katropa face each other in a championship series since the 2017 PBA Commissioner’s Cup where the Beermen defeated Katropa in six games./PN
