FEEL THE HEAT: San Miguel braces for Meralco’s power surge

Game today:

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)

6:15 p.m. — San Miguel Beer vs Meralco

It’s down to a race to three wins.

Defending champion San Miguel Beer tries to build on the momentum of its series equalizer to make it two in a row against Meralco in Game 3 of the best-of-seven Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup finals today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Game time is set at 6:15 p.m.

The Beermen turned the first-ever championship showdown between the two proud franchises into a tight race to the finish after a narrow 95-94 escape last Friday to tie the series at one game apiece.

“We’re very fortunate to tie the series. Our mindset, we have to think of it that it boils down to a best-of-five,” San Miguel coach Jorge Gallent said.

Marcio Lassiter played the hero’s role in the Beermen’s great escape, hitting the go-ahead trey that would eventually be the game-winning basket.

San Miguel barely pulled it through in another grind-it-out game against the same team that dealt the grand slam-seeking squad back-to-back losses in their first two meetings in the all-Filipino conference including an 86-93 decision in the series opener last Wednesday.

That’s why Gallent reminds his players that they cannot afford to slow down and lose steam or else the Bolts will take advantage.

“Meralco is a tough team. They really grind hard and their energy is really high. It’s just we have to match their energy. If you don’t match their energy you’re in trouble,” Gallent said.

“You can see if our energy goes down, that’s the time they pull up. We really have to play 48 minutes of basketball,” he added.

CJ Perez and seven-time Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo have been putting up consistent numbers in the series for the Beermen.

Perez had 34 points while Fajardo put up 17 and 13 rebounds in Game 2.

However, they will need better help from Lassiter, Chris Ross, Don Trollano, Jericho Cruz and the rest of the star-studded San Miguel squad to draw closer to a 10th Philippine Cup title and 30th crown overall.

Meralco will make the necessary adjustments to ensure there won’t be a repeat of its late breakdown in Game 2.

“We have to match their intensity. It’s a seven-game series. We have to make adjustments,” Bolts coach Luigi Trillo said.

Chris Banchero, who had sorry split from the foul line before Lassiter made him pay with the game-winning trey in the next play in Game 2, will surely try to make amends to put Meralco back on the driver’s seat.

So are Cliff Hodge and Chris Newsome after scoring just two points each in the fourth quarter, Allein Maliksi, who had a quiet eight-point night, and Raymond Almazan, who had it worse with a scoreless outing.

Rookie Brandon Bates, who had no blocks in Game 2 after swatting four shots in the opener, will have to do a better job defensively against Fajardo.