Two days later and San Miguel coach Jong Uichico was still at it, urging his players to go for the kill against the Turbo Chargers in Game Three of their best-of-five duel for a seat in the PBA Governors Cup title showdown at the Philsports Arena tonight.
"We can’t take Shell for granted although we have taken a 2-0 lead. Mahirap silang bigyan ng pag-asa by allowing them to win Game Three, so we have to give our best shot to finish it tomorrow (today)," said Uichico.
San Miguel takes its first of three cracks at a fifth straight finals appearance in the 5:05 p.m. curtain-raiser. Afterwards, Sta. Lucia Realty and Pop Cola dispute the pivotal 2-1 lead in their own semis series at 7:10.
The Beermen moved a win shy of the finals as they repeated with an 83-70 victory in Game Two Sunday.
The Realtors, meanwhile, forced a game deadlock versus the Panthers with a 76-69 victory on the same day.
For the record, the Beermen have yet to lose a best-of-five series where they jumped off with a two-game-to-nil lead.
And for Shell, that San Miguel lead could be too tough to overcome now with a tired, deceminated lineup minus two key players in Dale Singson and Benjie Paras.
Actually, Shell coach Perry Ronquillo has been doing well with what he’s got but just couldn’t complete the job with the Turbo Chargers unable to keep pace with the Beermen throughout.
Askia Jones has been cancelling out Strothers’ performance but the Shell locals couldn’t deflect the damage being done by their San Miguel counterparts.