Beermen take pride in bench depth

San Miguel Beer is not just about June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez or its star-studded starting five.

If there’s one other advantage the Beermen have in their finals rematch against TNT in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Philippine Cup, it would be their deep bench.

And that’s not just the second unit, as San Miguel is armed up to its third stringers.

Beermen head coach Leo Austria believes his bench mob will play a vital role in defending the all-Filipino crown they won last year against the same rivals.

“That’s very important in any team,” Austria said, referring to the importance of bench contribution as San Miguel braces for a tough best-of-seven series set to begin on Wednesday at the Ynares Center-Antipolo.

Bannered by Don Trollano, Jericho Cruz and Mo Tautuaa, San Miguel’s bench most of the time decides the tempo and the result of the game.

The Beermen relievers averaged 39.7 points per game since the start of the playoffs.

San Miguel’s bench has put in a norm of 38.3 points in six games against Barangay Ginebra in the semifinals. In the team’s two losses in the semis, the Beermen only had an average of 31 bench points, an indication of how important the second and third units are for Austria’s team.

“And if you notice, every game, in all our won games, we’ve had different Best Player of the Game winners,” Austria said.

In fact, Jeron Teng took the spotlight in Game 2 while Trollano dropped 33 points the next game as San Miguel took the series lead after falling short in the series opener.

“And then it’s a sign that we really need the contribution of our bench. Thankfully, they are performing really well,” Austria said.

“They enjoy my trust in them and then it’s a sign for them to be confident and inspired in the work we put in,” he added.

“But not only our second (team) in our bench but also our third group. They are the ones giving us some inspiration for our first group.”

Austria also lauded his bench players not just in what they bring during games but also for their efforts behind the scenes.

“In every practice before the (semis) series, they are the ones pushing hard to those players that we actually field to start the game. They push hard on those in my usual rotation,” he said.

Austria added that he gives confidence to all his players, from the last one on the bench, to prepare them in case of any injury or foul trouble to his regulars.

“That way, we’ll have somebody who will replace them. So, there’s little to no adjustment needed in case the situation occurs.”

The battle of the bench in the title series will be interesting as the Tropang 5G also pride themselves on their substitutes, who averaged 41 points per game in a five-game semis series win over Meralco.