TWO teams, one game, one championship.
The San Miguel Beermen and Indonesia Warriors dispute the Asean Basketball League title Saturday in the first-ever winner-take-all match in the short history of the fledgling regional league.
The Game Three encounter is set at 4 p.m. with the Beermen holding homecourt edge at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
The best-of-three series came down to a decider after the Warriors' 81-61 rout of the Beermen last week in Jakarta. San Miguel won the opener, 86-83.
Now it all boils down to a 40-minute game of resiliency, with no margin for error.
“I expect the Warriors to do the same as in Game Two and come out and be aggressive,” said San Miguel coach Bobby Parks. “It’s the final game, so there’s really nothing that you can do and change.”
His Indonesia Warriors counterpart Todd Purves said the Warriors need to bring their A-game if they are to win the franchise’s first-ever ABL crown.
“I expect the game to go down to the wire. We are going to have to play our best basketball of the year to get a win,” said Purves, named Best Coach of the season.
The blowout loss in Game Two may work in San Miguel's favor and fire up his troops, Parks said.
“When you get drubbed by 20 points, there’s a tendency for pride to come into play and you have to bounce back because they really beat us. We were out of the game totally,” said Parks.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
