THE starters for San Miguel Beer are Marcio Lassiter, Alex Cabagnot, Arwind Santos, June Mar Fajardo and import Arizona Reid. For Alaska, it has always been, almost, Cyrus Baguio, JV Casio, Calvin Abueva, Sonny Thoss and import Romeo Travis.
The matchup will be Lassiter-Baguio, Cabagnot-Casio, Santos-Abueva, Fajardo-Thoss and Reid-Travis.
There had been a deviation in Game One, when Chris Lutz started in place of Lassiter.
That was unintentional.
Lassiter came in late after he got trapped in the elevator of the condominium building where he and his family live. The elevator conked out.
It was a blessing in disguise, a much-welcomed accident if you will, that was heartily met by SMB Coach Leo Austria with a big smile on his face.
As an accidental starter in Game One, Lutz proceeded to become SMB’s accidental hero in that ill-fated encounter for Alaska. Together with Alex Cabagnot, they combined for 19 points in a basket-barraged first quarter for the Beermen.
But, more than that, Lutz proved he could be relied upon when the going got tough.
As part of the elite starting five, Lutz responded bravely, banging home baskets that thoroughly stunned a completely startled Alaska.
With its structured patterns shattered to smithereens early on, Alaska never recovered and got blown off the court via a humbling 108-78 rout by San Miguel Beer. It was almost a similar situation in Game Two, when Alaska, its rotation reversed radically on management orders, succumbed to an endgame stumble and crumble.
Apparently fed up with Calvin Abueva’s habitual roughhousing tactics—the coup de grâce was when “The Beast” was caught on TV slashing his neck with his fore finger—Alaska top brass ordered coaches by phone to bench Abueva. Worse, referees often give us a blind eye, as though Abueva has been invisible to them all this time.
But, alas, not to Alaska’s top honchos themselves.
“Abueva’s been giving Alaska a bad image all this time with his dirty tactics,” Valentin Dakuykoy, my legman for decades, quoted an Alaska official as saying in Game Two.
That proved fatal. Without an Alaska gunner in Abueva, SMB blanked the Aces in a 13-0 windup in the last 2:39 for the Beermen’s 103-95 victory on Sunday.
Thus, with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven PBA Governors’ Cup Finals, SMB is eyeing to put a foot inside the trophy room in today’s Game Three at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
And, as Alaska battles for survival—a third loss would practically mean good-bye to Alex Compton’s title dreams in his fourth conference as Aces coach—San Miguel Beer clearly sees by now a second victory in three conferences looming in the horizon.
And to think that in their first championship clash during the First Conference, Alaska got first to two wins via a 2-1 edge from a 1-1 tie. SMB would next wn back to back before Alaska leveled it to 3-3.
In the deciding Game Seven, Alaska had appeared set to win it all until Santos hit a three from right quartercourt with ticks to go to seal SMB’s heart-stopping, come-from-behind victory.
At the rate the Beermen are tossing the Aces like French fries, I think Alaska is doomed.
THAT’S IT. It’s been a championship-filled weekend, with Serena Williams winning her 21st tennis Grand Slam by ruling Wimbledon for the sixth time, and Novak Djokovic stopping the ageless Roger Federer for Wimbledon’s men’s singles crown. And then dawn of Monday (Philippine time), Jordan Spieth won by sudden-death over Tom Gillis on the second hole to pocket his second John Deere Clasic in three years. In 2013 Spieth, then 19, won the event by sinking a last-hole birdie from the trap to forge a sudden-death, defeating Masters champion Zach Johnson and becoming the first teenager in 83 years to win a Professional Golfers’ Association event. This week Spieth aims to capture the year’s third major, the British Open, to add to his Masters and US Open victories in April and June, respectively.