Go for ABL title vs Warriors Beermen seek breakthru

Game today (Mahaka Square, Indonesia)

7 p.m. (8 p.m. in Manila) – Indonesia Warriors vs San Miguel Beermen

JAKARTA – On the cusp of a first-ever crown in the Asean Basketball League, San Miguel Beer vows to go all-out as the Beermen try to dethrone the Indonesia Warriors in Game Three of the best-of-five finals before an expected hostile crowd tonight at Mahaka Square here.

Riding high on a pair of ego-boosting victories at home, 75-70 behind the MVP effort of Asi Taulava, and 66-65 behind the spectacular endgame play leading to Brian Williams’ game-winning basket, the Beermen seek to sweep the very team that thwarted their title campaign in 2012. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. (8 p.m. in Manila).

“Playing away from home is really hard, considering the spectators’ hostility. More so if you’re up against Indonesia, a team that comes to every game prepared and has good players like Stanley Pringle, and they will play with their backs against the wall. But I’m sure with this opportunity (to close out), we’ll be motivated to play against Indonesia here as all we have to do is win one more game to win the championship,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.

The Beermen know they couldn’t afford to give the Warriors a lifeline. Should the home team stall SMB’s coronation coinciding with the Philippine Independence Day tonight, the protagonists will go at it again in Game Four on June 15 also at the Warriors’ turf. And if necessary, a winner-take-all Game Five will be staged on June 19, back at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.

“Next game is going to be crucial. We don’t want to be in Jakarta for a whole week for two games; we know the capability of that team (Warriors) and they can tie this series real quick. So we have to come out and do what we have to do to win,” said Williams.

“We have the momentum so we would want to finish the series early. But we know that a sweep will be difficult against the Warriors. We will just take it one play at a time,” said Austria. 

San Miguel seeks to make up for their bungled job in last year’s best-of-three affair, which saw the Warriors foil the Filipino team’s sweep bid and eventually stealing the diadem with a triumph in Manila with their own sweep of the last two games.

“We want to get back at our opponents. Last year, they embarrassed us in our homecourt,” said Austria, who was an assistant to the late Bobby Parks Sr. in the failed 2012 campaign.

Aside from Taulava (22 points, 10 rebounds in Game One) and Williams (17 points, 16 rebounds in Game Two), Austria expects to get big-time contributions from Chris Banchero, Leo Avenido, Val Acuña, and Justin Williams, who averages five blocks in the finals.

Pringle (18 points per game in the finals) banners Indonesia along with imports Steven Thomas and Chris Daniels. Filipino guard Jerrick Cañada, who was hitting the treys and helping contain the Beermen’s backcourt before hurting his knee in the fourth quarter of Game Two, had reportedly been cleared for tonight’s crucial encounter.

Warriors coach Todd Purves said despite their Game Two loss, they will basically stick to what was working for them in that match.

“There won’t be any adjustments (in Game 3). I thought we did everything we could to give ourselves a win in Game Two, but we just came up one play short,” said Purves.

He was referring to San Miguel’s superb inbounds play in the last 6.8 seconds, in which Williams pulled free off his defender off a back screen and went up for the game-winner unchallenged.

“My guys got caught on the backscreen. It’s not one individual’s mistake, it was the team’s. But credit the winning team for a well-executed play. As for us, we just have to play some more good basketball at home,” said Purves, who unwittingly gave SMB a break when he called for timeout that apparently allowed the timeout-less Beermen to plot that winning play.