The San Miguel Beermen is scheduled for a best-of-seven championship round match against the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok. Game 2 is at 7:00 P.M. on May 3, 2019 live from the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Related:
- San Miguel (SMB) vs Magnolia Game 7
- San Miguel (SMB) vs Magnolia Game 6
- San Miguel (SMB) vs Magnolia Game 5
- San Miguel (SMB) vs Magnolia Game 4
- San Miguel (SMB) vs Magnolia Game 3
- San Miguel (SMB) vs Magnolia Game 1
The Beermen are looking to even the series at 1-1 while the Hotshots wanted to make a statement and will try to capture another victory in Game Two tonight when the 2019 PBA Philippine Cup continues at the Big Dome.
Magnolia ace forward Ian Sangalang has added one year experience since last year’s All-Filipino Finals and he knows the importance of winning twice in championship round against the Beermen.
“Kapag nakadalawang sunod kami diyan, mag-i-isip na yan na kaya namin silang talunin,” said Sangalang.
The second overall pick of the 2013 PBA Draft was the Fajardo version of the Hotshots and gave the Beermen headache inside the post.
He registered a double-double performance in the series opener with his 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Though Magnolia able to shoot well and matched the offensive intensity of San Miguel last Wednesday, coach Chito Victolero reminded his troops about their real identity which is a defensive squad.
“I talked to the players at halftime, reminding them we can’t beat San Miguel on offense. They just scored 55 points in the first half and although we’re able to score, too, we weren’t able to assert our identity, which is defense. I’m very happy they responded to the challenge, played good defense in the second half and limited them to under 100 points. That’s the key against the offensive-minded Beermen,” said Victolero.
For the SMB camp on the other hand, Fajardo and coach Austria seems both agree that the championship round is far from over and many things can still happen.
“Okay lang yun. Good thing na best-of-seven ito. Marami pa kaming time na mag-adjust then bounce back lang next game,” said Fajardo.
For coach Austria, though his team lost he is still grateful since it’s not a knockout game.
“If you look at the stats, you’ll see our shooting percentage, our shot selection was not good. I have to give credit to our opponent, it was their defense that made this possible,” said Austria. “Fortunately, it’s only Game One and it was not a knockout series.”