The San Miguel Beermen is scheduled for a head-to-head game against the Blackwater Bossing at 3:00 PM on February 1, 2023 live from the Ynares Center in Antipolo City, Rizal.
The Beermen will try to strike a back-to-back win to follow up their victory last Sunday while the Bossing also wanted the same to keep their winning momentum alive.
If the barometer of this afternoon’s game is the victory they got against the Phoenix Super LPG Fuelmasters then San Miguel appears to have more upside. Just a few days ago, the winningest team in the PBA crushed Phoenix with a 114-93 final score where all of the quarters they have in control.
Right off the bat, the Beermen unleashed a 42-21 at the end of the first quarter. That scenario is what Blackwater head coach Ariel Vanguardia wanted to avoid.
“Marami masyadong weapons ang San Miguel kaya kailangan hindi namin ibigay ang gusto nilang gawin offensively at kailangan ma-iskoran namin zone (defense) nila,” said Vanguardia.
Before their tip-off, the Bossing head bench tactician already has an idea what could be the possible defensive alignment their opponent is going to deploy. Blackwater shooters need to be ready and make sure their rifles for a long distance are clean and sharp.
“Kasi against Phoenix siguro mga 80 percent of the time naka-sona sila so kailangan maka-shoot kami against their zone kundi lalabo chances namin,” Vanguardia added.
Though San Miguel was almost in cruise control during their match versus Phoenix, yet, there was an instance in the final quarter when the troops of Jamike Jarin found their rhythm and cut the deficit to only 10. San Miguel head coach Jorge Gallent immediately redeployed his starters back in the game to regain the momentum and completely shut the door for the Super LPG.
“When leads go down it’s a challenge for the team to recover and bring it up again. So that’s what they did,” said Gallent. “When the lead went down, we did not panic at all, we just stayed composed and the lead went up again. We didn’t get into that panic stage, which is good,” added Gallent. “This team is very composed. I’m very confident that they can survive that.”