Grand slam or bust for San Mig

MANILA, Philippines - San Mig Coffee braces for what could be its toughest test in its drive for a first grand slam in the Philippine Basketball Association in 18 years.

Actually in chase of a “Four-Peat,” the Mixers try to accomplish the rare feat as they slug it out with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the PLDT Home Telpad PBA Governors Cup best-of-five finale starting at 8 p.m. tomorrow at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.

“They are our contra-pelo,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone of the last team to beat the Mixers in a titular showdown.

After Rain or Shine’s conquest of B-Meg (San Mig) in the 2012 Governors Cup finals, the Elasto Painters reasserted their mastery of the Mixers in the 2013 Philippine Cup semifinals, giving Cone the right reason to be very cautious of coach Yeng Guiao and his troops.

Cone believes they have a job cut out for them in their third finals showdown with Rain or Shine in seven conferences.

It’s “The Tiebreaker” after Rain or Shine’s 2012 Governors Cup triumph and San Mig Coffee’s revenge in their finals rematch in the last Philippine Cup.

To many, the storyline is grand slam or bust for San Mig Coffee.

But Guiao doesn’t want to be a part of it.

“We’ll not be out there to try to stop history of San Mig Coffee. I don’t think that’s the purpose. We want to make our own history,” said Guiao emphatically.

“It’s not trying to stop them. For us, it’s trying to win a championship,” Guiao added.

The fiery RoS mentor is confident they can come out and compete, though, admitting they have problems matching up with a tall team like San Mig Coffee.

“We are a small team with a small import. We have difficulty playing tall teams,” he said.

The Elasto Painters topped the Mixers, 95-94, in their elimination-round tiff last June 16. But being a non-bearing match, it can’t be used as a gauge for their coming final duels.

San Mig Coffee and Rain or Shine went through the same route on the way to the finals. The Mixers booted out the San Miguel Beermen in one game in the quarterfinals then needed five full games to ease out the Talk n Text Tropang Texters in the semis while the E-Painters disposed of the Air21 Express also in one game in the Final Eight then took the distance to beat the Alaska Milk Aces in the Final Four.

And curiously, the two teams are faced with practically the same challenge as in the semis, as San Mig Coffee is like Alaska Milk in many ways while Rain or Shine has similarities with Talk n Text.

Talk n Text used a long rotation playing up-tempo in the last three games of its semis battle with San Mig Coffee – the usual ploy of Rain or Shine.

In Alaska, Rain or Shine, meanwhile, was prepared for San Mig Coffee’s triangle offense.

It’s a series to watch.