SMART CLARK GIGA CITY - Leo Austria just wanted to stabilize things that the San Miguel Beer coaching staff decided to bring Arwind Santos back halfway through the final quarter of the Beermen’s PBA Philippine Cup game against NorthPort.
The consensus was for the 38-year-old forward to just play for two minutes.
As it turned out, it was the longest two minutes the Beermen could ever imagine.
During that span, Santos and former teammate Kelly Nabong rekindled the past and got into each other in two separate physical plays that marred the five-time reigning champion’s 120-99 win over NorthPort Tuesday night at the Angeles University Foundation gym.
“I need two minutes only just to stabilize the defense,” said Austria after seeing San Miguel’s what was a 34-point lead suddenly cut down to 110-89 with 5:11 left in the game.
“Unfortunately, something unnecessary happened.”

Nabong and Santos, who figured in a heated fight in one team practice session last year that also involved import Des Wells and veteran guard Ronald Tubid, found themselves up against each other in two separate San Miguel isolation plays.
Both times, Nabong would tackle Santos hard, including a solid bump that would left the former MVP sprawled on the floor.
The last incident led to the tough NorthPort forward being whistled for a flagrant foul penalty one on his sixth and final foul for the night.
The two had some heated exchange of words as the 38-year-old Santos tried to confront Nabong as San Miguel and NorthPort players separated the two.
Although he meant well when he fielded in Santos back, Austria said there’s really nothing much to the incident other than two players expressing their desire to win.
“Hinahanap yata ng mga tao yung kaunting spark, pero that’s it. Tapos na yun,” he said.
Curiously, Santos and Nabong played well for their respective teams, registering double-doubles.
Nabong finished with a game-high 29 points and 10 rebounds on 10-of-17 shooting from the field, while Santos had 23 points and 11 rebounds and was 4-of-7 from three-point range.
Being professionals, Austria doesn’t see things escalating from there between the ex-teammates.
“Alam naman natin yung mga players, pagdating sa court lahat yan palaban. Pagdating sa labas, hindi na yan mag-aano dahil may pinag-samahan naman ang mga yan,” he said.
___
Spin fans unite at the Spin Viber Community! Join the growing community now and complete the experience by subscribing to the Spin Chatbot.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph