ALASKA coach Alex Compton wants no part of any possible deja vu for the Aces.
That’s why he wants his team to keep pushing as hard as they can when they shoot for a commanding 2-0 lead against rival San Miguel Beer in their best-of-seven championship showdown in the 2015-16 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup.
Momentum is on Alaska’s side as it goes for a second straight win against the Beermen, who are in a must-win situation, in their Game 2 clash today at 7 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Taking a trip down memory lane, Compton remembered that his Aces were in this similar situation last season, also in the finale against San Miguel Beer. They were ahead, 1-0, but ended up losing the series and the championship to the Beermen in an epic seven-game war.
With that, Compton doesn’t want any complacency from him and his boys as they continue to push hard for that elusive title.
“We’re ahead, but we need three more games,’’ said Compton. “We were also ahead 1-0 against them (San Miguel) last season in the All-Filipino finals and we still lost. We don’t want to be ahead of things. We want to keep our focus and effort.’’
In Game 1 Sunday night, the Aces trailed most of the way against the June Mar Fajardo-less San Miguel before unleashing a furious rally in the final period to draw first blood, 100-91, and grab the early series lead.
Big man Vic Manuel starred for Alaska as he scored 14 of his game-high 24 points in the game-turning payoff period to spearhead his squad to the important victory.
Overall, the red-hot Aces have won four in a row, dating back to the semifinals and six of their last seven since the elimination round.
Without Fajardo manning the paint, Manuel and Co. out-muscled the Beermen and dominated the boards. The Aces out-rebounded San Miguel Beer, 48-28, and that proved to be one huge factor why the result favored Alaska.
In addition, San Miguel coach Leo Austria blamed the team’s clumsiness with the ball as their turnovers led to instant offense for Alaska.
“We had a hard time defending against them. We got out-rebounded by 20. We also had a lot of turnovers. We made 23 points of our turnovers and that killed us. We need to take care of the ball to get a win,’’ said Austria.
Fajardo, who is nursing a bruised and swollen knee, is still listed as day-to-day at this point and it is still uncertain when he’ll be able to return to help the Beermen.
The good news though was that surgery was ruled out and the talented behemoth just needs to rest and rehab his injured knee to recover.
Even without Fajardo, San Miguel had little problems initially as it led most of the way in Game 1 and even held a sizeable 78-66 lead, the largest of the game, with over 11 minutes left.
Unfortunately for the Beermen, it was the Aces who had the most significant run and the last say, with Fajardo’s absence evidently affecting San Miguel’s inside game in the closing minutes.
Game Today
(Game 2, Finals – Smart
Araneta Coliseum)
7 p.m. – San Miguel vs. Alaska