PH Cup: Beermen, Hotshots get on 8th Finals face-off

Magnolia Hotshots’ Jio Jalalon (left) appears diminutive in his attempt to attack the defense of San Miguel Beermen big man June Mar Fajardo, in their 2017-2018 PBA Philippine Cup match on Feb. 4, 2018. PBA MEDIA BUREAU

MANILA – San Miguel Beermen and Magnolia Hotshots, while sister teams, are expected to not give way to each other as their 2017-2018 PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven Finals series starts tonight at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Game 1 starts 7 o’clock. Beermen aims to annex its fourth consecutive All-Filipino title while Hotshots guns for its first title since its Grand Slam year in 2014.

This will be the eighth time Beermen and Hotshots are facing each other in the PBA Finals series, with Beermen way ahead in head-to-head matchup at 5-2. Their last encounter was in the 2013 Governors’ Cup, which Hotshots won.

Beermen head coach Leo Austria said they will not waste the opportunity to become the first team in the league to win four consecutive All-Filipino championships.

Kung papalarin kami it’s the first time na mananalo ang isang koponan sa PBA nang apat na sunod-sunod na All-Filipino,” said Austria. “May nagtanong nga kung ‘Destiny or dynasty?’ Ang sabi ko, ‘It’s tradition.’”

“We keep winning because of the sacrifices of these players,” he added. “Kung titingnan mo ang lineup ng ibang teams, it’s equally talented and equally strong. It’s a matter of how you develop your team to have a winning attitude.”

Hotshots mentor Chito Victolero acknowledged that they are the clear underdogs but said they will find ways to defeat Beermen and will not just roll over in the title series.

“It’s a battle of defense and offense eh,” Victolero said. “We’ve been consistent with our goals noong start pa lang ng conference, which is to limit our opponents under 90 points. Nagawa namin iyonIyon din iyong goal namin sa (Final) series.”

Kahit sino namang kalaban ng San Miguel, underdog iyan eh,” he added. “We just need to play together. I think iyong team namin, iyong buong team naming, we need to stop San Miguel as a team. Not one-on-one, not two-on-two. It’s about five on five.”

Seen to lead the way for Beermen are June Mar Fajardo, Arwind Santos, Alex Cabagnot, Chris Ross, and Marcio Lassiter, while Paul Lee, Ian Sangalang, Andy Mark Barroca, Peter June Simon, and Aldrech Ramos are expected to banner Hotshots./PN

 

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