The San Miguel Beermen is scheduled for a head-to-head game against the Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots at 4:30 PM on February 4, 2023 live from the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Metro Manila.
The Beermen are thinking that they’re not slowing down anytime soon and wanted to extend their winning ways to four in a row at the same time keeping their record unbeaten while the Hotshots are hoping that this evening will be their chance to pick up their first victory in the ongoing PBA third conference tournament.
San Miguel appears to have no problem adjusting to their new head coach basketball system as they hammered Phoenix Super LPG Fuelmasters, Blackwater Bossing and the most recent was against the Terrafirma Dyip. Yet, if you look at those ball clubs, someone may say that they are average or below-average teams in the PBA.
Probably, that could be also in the minds of Jorge Gallent that’s why he mentioned that their schedule today will be a true test if they’re on a level they wanted to attain.
“It’s gonna be a tough game,” said Gallent. “This will test us… if our defense and offense are really gonna work.”
He also pinpoint that sharing the ball will be one of the important factors if they wanted to stay unbeaten. Likewise, he wanted that his troop maintains how they execute their defense which keeps their first three opponents score 93.6 on average.
“For you to win a basketball game you have to share the ball, and that’s what the players are doing. Defensively, we’re kind of doing okay. But we can work things out more,” said Gallent.
For Magnolia on the other hand, without a doubt that head coach Chito Victolero don’t want to hear another story that playing against them is a litmus test. They’re currently on a two-game losing skid and for sure they wanted to avoid another big “L” in their standing by the end of the day.
One of the reasons that Victolero highlighted why they suffered back-to-back defeats was their failure to make a strong stand in the decisive period.
“Hindi namin ma-finish dahil siguro dala na rin ng execution doon sa dulo,” he said.
For sure coach, Victolero wanted to address this team issue, or else there could be a drastic move in their roster moving forward. It’s unusual to see the famous franchise having this kind of bad start in a conference since they were still called as Purefoods TJ Hotdogs.
“But ang main problem meron kaming time doon sa game na nag-re-relax kami. Like last night, na-outhustle, na-outwork kami ng TNT,” said Victolero. “Parang Converge game, na we had a chance sa huli. Last night ganoon din. We make a run and then in the crucial parts may mga turnovers, misses. Na-outwork, na-outhustle kami ng TNT. So we need to be more mentally prepared tomorrow.”