Game today:

(Mall of Asia Arena)

7:30 p.m. — San Miguel vs TNT

A 2-1 lead barely means anything in a best-of-seven series.

So, there’s no room for complacency for defending champion San Miguel Beer despite enjoying a one-game lead over TNT in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Philippine Cup finals.

The Beermen march into Game 4 today at the Mall of Asia Arena with the same mindset of not getting ahead of themselves. Tipoff time is set at 7:30 p.m.

“It’s a race to four. We haven’t done anything (yet),” San Miguel guard Chris Ross said.

Despite a first-half verbal tussle with head coach Leo Austria, CJ Perez played clutch in the last minute of San Miguel Beer’s 95-89 Game 3 win on Sunday.

A seven-point burst by Perez saved the Beermen from collapse after squandering a 17-point lead they erected in the opening period.

San Miguel has won the last two games of the all-Filipino championship rematch. Extending it to a third is going to be a tough one.

Austria expects the Tropang 5G to get more physical and more aggressive to prevent going into a deeper hole they might not be able to climb out of.

“The players have to refocus on the next game. We all know Talk ‘N Text. After we tied the series, we all saw how fierce they are. We’ve seen their adjustments,” Austria said.

“Good thing we’re able to respond well.”

Nine-time Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo remains the focal point of San Miguel down low with Perez, super sub Don Trollano, Jericho Cruz and Mo Tautuaa providing the extra firepower.

Suddenly down by a game after drawing first blood, TNT is now playing with a sense of urgency.

“We’ll see what we did wrong and hopefully we won’t repeat it,” Tropang 5G guard Rey Nambatac said.

However, trailing after three meetings is nothing new to TNT.

In fact, three of the Tropang 5G’s 11 titles were won after coming back from a 1-2 series deficit.

The last one happened three years ago, when Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Mikey Williams led TNT to a six-game victory over Barangay Ginebra in the 2023 Governors’ Cup finals.

Head coach Chot Reyes believes the Tropang 5G are capable of replicating that if they get their acts together.

A healthier RR Pogoy, following his return in Game 3 after skipping the first two finals outings due to a hamstring injury, is expected to contribute more to help Nambatac, Calvin Oftana, Jordan Heading and Brandon Ganuela-Rosser on offense.

Veteran Kelly Williams, after going scoreless last game, must once again step up to rally the troops or risk TNT fighting for dear life in Game 5 on Friday at the Ynares Center-Antipolo.