Long road for Beermen

SAN Miguel Beer needs more production from John Holland to keep its grand slam bid alive.

Suddenly, San Miguel Beer’s grand slam bid is in jeopardy once more.

After promising 4-0 start in the season-ending Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup, the Beermen are now a loss away from kissing their dream of a triple crown goodbye.

But head coach Leo Austria sticks with the positives despite a series of unfortunate events that happened to his team including the infamous brawl of ex-import Dez Wells, Ronald Tubid, Arwind Santos and Kelly Nabong during practice.

“Well, the morale of the team is high. We’re taking it positively. That’s (challenges) normal whether it’s from the NBA (National Basketball Association) or PBA,” Austria said.

“With the way we played tonight, there is no sign that there was an unfortunate incident in the team,” he added.

San Miguel dropped a 114-109 decision to TNT KaTropa last Wednesday at the end of the elimination round to settle for No. 5 spot in the quarterfinal round and face sister team and twice-to-beat Barangay Ginebra.

It was the Beermen’s fifth loss in their last seven games that wiped them out in the top four with a 6-5 win-loss card.

Two seasons ago, San Miguel was also in the hunt for a grand slam after winning the first two conferences and interestingly was knocked out by the Gin Kings in the quarters of the Governors’ Cup.

The Beermen are now facing the same predicament and despite losing their final game to KaTropa, Austria liked the way his team perform even if Santos, Nabong and Tubid did not suit up due to suspension handed by the management.

“Arwind is a big part of the team. But we have to accept the reality, we cannot tolerate the incident that happened to us. We have to do something that could give us a strong signal that nobody is above the policy,” Austria said.

“But what I saw from everybody was so they are eager to win and contribute a lot. This is a test of character. Even if you don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, it’s something that will develop the character of the team.”

And in order to get on track for the franchise’s second grand slam, San Miguel needs to get past Justin Brownlee and the rest of Ginebra twice to move on to the semis.

Austria said his team will take any kind of opportunity in front of them.

“The chances are still there and we don’t have to wait another season to prepare for that. We don’t want to have this opportunity go to waste. It’s already there. We only need get two wins,” the three-time Coach of the Year said.