Seemingly peaking, the San Miguel Beermen go for a 2-0 lead as they look for a second straight win against Rain or Shine in the resumption of their best-of-five semifinals series in the 2019 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’ Cup.
Game 2 is scheduled at 7 p.m. tonight at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City with the Beermen looking for a tighter grip while the Elasto Painters aim to equalize.
Clearly gaining its championship form, San Miguel muscled its way in crunch time to take Game 1, 111-105, last Saturday in a competitive opener.
Dating back to the quarterfinals, San Miguel has now won three in a row.
The Beermen actually trailed by 13 points at one point in the game but their poise got them back to eventually snatch the game from the Painters.
It was Christian Standhardinger’s turn to provide a spark as he helped Chris McCullough in leading San Miguel to victory.
McCullough continued to impress, registering 32 points and 14 rebounds while Standhardinger had 20 points and eight rebounds as the SMB bigs dominated for the Beermen.
That proved to be huge for San Miguel as superstar June Mar Fajardo was neutralized by the Rain or Shine defense. He only managed nine points and a single rebound.
San Miguel coach Leo Austria shared what he expects for the rest of the series.
“In the semifinals, I always expect teams we face to be more prepared for us and that’s what happened in Game 1. June Mar was neutralized,” said Austria. “It’s just good that we have Christian. We expect a tough series but we’re ready.”
Rain or Shine was actually doing well for most part of Game 1 until it faltered in the waning minutes.
The Painters will now look to avoid a huge 0-2 hole.