Derby Ace, TnT brace for foes' comeback

MANILA, Philippines -  Protagonists in the 2010 PBA Fiesta Conference Final Four start from scratch, all setting out for a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series at the Araneta Coliseum today.

Reigning champion San Miguel Beer and Philippine Cup titlist B-MEG Derby Ace take the floor at 4 p.m. then Alaska Milk and Talk n Text slug it out at 6:30 p.m.

Derby Ace coach Ryan Gregorio feels his Llamados crew barely escaped with a come-from-behind 95-94 win over San Miguel that tied their showdown.

“We’re back to scratch. It’s really nice to win over San Miguel, at least now we’re alive,” Gregorio said on the eve of Game Three.

The Llamados appeared in danger of facing a 0-2 deficit when they went down by as many as 18 in Game Two. But they persistently clawed back and got a huge lift from Tony Washam’s 10 fourth-quarter points, including a lethal three-point play followed by a key defensive stop to steal the win.

This they did despite losing the battle under the boards by a whopping margin of 11.

“We’re totally outrebounded (39-50). That’s something we have to improve on if we want to succeed,” said Gregorio. “We also have to figure out a way to score easy baskets. We’re practically bleeding for every point against San Miguel.”

A silver lining for Gregorio is how his wards choked the Beermen to a mere 15 markers in the payoff period.

“We saw a glimmer of our trademark defense when we allowed San Miguel to score only 15 in the fourth. As long as we continue to play tough defense, I think we have a chance of pulling off an upset,” he said.

For SMB coach Siot Tanquingcen, the key is to limit their turnovers, something that hastened their fall last Friday.

“Everything is just back to square one. But we need to take care of the ball better. We can’t turn the ball over 26 times like last game and expect to win,” said Tanquingcen.

Like San Miguel and B-Meg, the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters and the Alaska Aces try to break a 1-1 standoff in their own semis series.

TnT mentor Chot Reyes, whose wards ran away with a 100-94 Game Two triumph after dropping the opener, 88-104, expects the Aces to bounce back strong.

“We made our adjustment for Game Two. I’m sure (Alaska) coach Tim Cone is gonna make counter-adjustments so it’s incumbent upon us to prepare for whatever they’re gonna bring,” said Reyes, whose crew won Game Two without Macmac Cardona who tied the knot Friday afternoon.

Cardona is expected to be back for tonight’s crucial Game Three.

Cone and the Aces plan to go into the match wiser.

“Coming from our first game win, Game Two got a little too easy for us through the first half, and then we lost discipline starting the second half and the game got real hard,” said Cone.

“If we allow them (TnT) to play to their considerable talent, then we’ll continue to be in trouble. But our guys have a firm grip of what they need to do to win so they’ll be ready for Game Three,” he added.