Slambang Sunday: San Miguel, TNT break deadlock

Narrowed down to a race to three wins, defending champion San Miguel Beer and TNT are back to square one in the tug-of-war for the upper hand in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Philippine Cup finals series.

Expect an even more explosive encounter when Game 3 of the best-of-seven showdown erupts Sunday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Although the Beermen seem to have momentum on their side in the 7:30 p.m. match after tying the series last Friday, head coach Leo Austria warns his wards that the Tropang 5G will come at them hard to regain the lead.

He wants to see San Miguel play with the same energy and aggressiveness in its 111-92 rout of TNT in Game 2 at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

For Austria, taking Game 3 is a pivotal point and could go either way.

“Well, I think it’s a matter of how hungry we are and how hungry they are,” he said.

“I’m expecting that it will be an exciting game. Right now we are 1-1. The series is now reduced to a best-of-five. And Game 1 (first game) in a best-of-five is really crucial,” Austria added.

Outworked in a 91-96 loss in the series opener, San Miguel fired back with a dominating equalizer.

The Beermen, behind reliever Don Trollano and center June Mar Fajardo, punished the Tropang 5G with their inspired performances.

Trollano, who was limited to just four points in the opener, dropped 22 points off the bench. Fajardo had a double-double of 17 points and 16 rebounds.

San Miguel, after getting outrebounded in Game 1, returned the favor by controlling the boards, 50-35, while scoring 19 second-chance points. The Beermen forced 21 turnovers and converted them to 32 turnover points.

Austria expects the Tropang 5G to throw a tighter defensive scheme.

In fact, San Miguel almost squandered a 24-point lead when TNT, behind Kevin Ferrer’s back-to-back four-pointers, sparked a telling run to close in within 10 in the last two minutes.

“We don’t know yet what they will give. But as far as these two games are concerned, they are giving a premium on their defense. The mere fact that they are trapping us, I think, that’s one of their surprises for us,” Austria said.

“In our last game, they did the same, full court man-to-man. It’s good that we had big leads. Our 24 points were cut down to just 10. Fortunately, Don is here to perform for us. I think he wants to make up for his last game.”

It’s back to the drawing board for TNT, on the other hand.

The Tropang 5G will need to find a way to stop the Beermen from wreaking havoc at point-blank range after scoring 52 points in the paint in Game 2.

Calvin Oftana, who had a quiet 11 points and one rebound, veteran Kelly Williams and big man Poy Erram, who fouled out without contributing a single point and only picking up five boards, will need to bounce back big time to avoid falling behind and allowing San Miguel to gain momentum.

“Coach (Chot Reyes) told us that we’re back to square one. This is down to a best-of-five. We’re moving on from this game,” said Ferrer, who finished with 11 points in just 12 minutes of action.