SMART CLARK GIGA CITY – As age and injuries finally caught up with San Miguel, the alarm is now being sounded.
Coach Leo Austria is hoping for the infusion of young blood by next season after seeing the Beermen’s five-year reign as PBA Philippine Cup champions come to an end on Sunday night at the hands of the Meralco Bolts.
“Of course, we’re not getting any younger. Probably, we will talk to management regarding the composition of our line-up next year,” said Austria, the morning after the team’s 68-90 loss in its do-or-die quarterfinals encounter against the Bolts.
Despite a twice-to-beat edge, the deposed champion failed to march on as the 14-man San Miguel squad was ravaged by injuries, with starters Chris Ross, Alex Cabagnot, Mo Tautuaa, and Marcio Lassiter all playing hurt.
Noted, too, was the fact that all the Beermen's starters are already in their 30s, with Tautuaa being the youngest at 31 and Arwind Santos the most senior at 39.
“I think we’re the oldest team in the league and our starters are averaging 34 years old,” stressed Austria. “Our opponents are 27-28 (and) in their primes.
“There’s a lot of clamor from the fans, from basketball experts na we’re not getting any younger,” added the four-time PBA Press Corps Coach of the Year. “I hope na we realize what we have right now.”
The Beermen went to the bubble without their best player in six-time MVP June Mar Fajardo due to injury and big guard Matt Ganuelas-Rosser.
Adding to their woes later was the early exit of gunner Terrence Romeo, who dislocated his shoulder and had to be taken out of the bubble for good just in the team’s third game of the season.
Austria said the case of the 6-foot-9 Fajardo is already given as he suffered a shin injury prior to the season.
Romeo and Ganuelas-Rosser, according to Austria, could have been a big help had they been with the team.
“Yung kay Terrence at Matt, big role ang ginagawa nila sa team. We have a scorer and defender in those two guys,” he said. “Kung andiyan sila, tingin ko laban pa rin kami.”
Under such circumstances, Austria had to make do with what San Miguel had left.
But with half of the elimination games being played under a compressed schedule, the toll of having to play almost on a daily basis proved to tough for a team playing hurt like the Beermen.
“Maybe sa regular season, we could have adjusted. But here, every other day, sometimes back-to-back games pa. (And) it’s hard for these ‘young players’ namin,” said Austria.
Still San Miguel was fortunate enough to salvage a twice-to-beat advantage in the playoffs after finishing as the No. 4 seeded team in the playoffs.
Meralco, however, proved to be a much fresher and healthier team, running the Beermen to the ground and beating them twice in a row to finally end their reign as kings of the All-Filipino conference.
That should be enough for Austria to call spade a spade.
“I hope na magkaroon nun,” said the coach when asked if there should be changes in the team roster by next season. “We cannot survive dahil all the teams are getting better and better.”
Less than 24 hours after being booted out, the entire San Miguel team left the bubble on Monday.
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