San Miguel Beer starts its chase of a second jewel of a possible grand slam season as the Philippine Cup champ finally returns to action, going up against the roaring Meralco Bolts in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday.
Tipoff is at 6:45 p.m.
The Beermen hope not to suffer the same bad experiences in the past where they struggled badly coming from a championship.
SMB coach Leo Austria is wary of a bumpy ride in the early stretch of the second conference but nonetheless is hopeful they will contend for the crown with the huge frontcourt duo of June Mar Fajardo and Charles Rhodes as their lethal weapon.
Austria sees his team as title contender along with the TNT KaTropa Texters, the Meralco Bolts, the Alaska Milk Aces and the Star Hotshots.
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The Bolts have lived up to high expectation in the initial blast of action in the mid-season tourney, seizing the early lead with four straight wins over NLEX, Mahindra, TNT and Rain or Shine.
A tough challenge for the Bolts is taking on an SMB team and its new import minus any scouting report.
“We don’t know what they’re throwing at us. Meanwhile, we have played four games, and so they’ve got an idea on what we want to do,” said Black.
The Meralco bench chieftain expects Rhodes to be a good player as per reports say.
“He’s a post player who can get the rebounds and play defense,” said Austria of Rhodes, the second all-time leader in blocks in the Korean Basketball League.
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“Most of the time, he’ll play in the shaded lane but he’s got perimeter shooting. Hindi sya pwedeng pabayaan,” Austria also said.
Rhodes is in shape since he’s just finished his recent tour of duty in Korea in February.
“Another good thing about him, he’s got a winner’s mentality,” Austria said.
“My worry is how do we perform in the first few games. For sure, all the teams will play all-out against us. Meanwhile, baka bagsak ang playing condition namin by 20 percent. We’ll have a catching up to do,” Austria also said.
“We’ll no longer dominate the competition because they have someone to match up with June Mar. We’ll find the advantage on our side again if June Mar and our import develop a good bonding. We’ll have a double-post threat.”
