SAN Miguel has been dethroned as champions of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup after missing the quarterfinals for the first time in a decade.
The Beermen were eliminated from playoff contention after NLEX defeated Eastern, 94-76, on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in the penultimate playdate of the elimination round of the mid-season conference.
By picking up its sixth win, NLEX moved beyond the reach of the 5-7 San Miguel. A Road Warriors defeat would have given the Beermen hope for a playoff for the No. 8 spot which would happen with a Magnolia loss to Meralco on Friday.
COLUMN: Bad decisions turn SMB's grand slam dream into grand mess
Instead, San Miguel will be taking an early vacation nearly a year after it won the 48th Season Commissioner’s Cup when the Beermen defeated Magnolia in six games on Valentine’s Day 2024.
San Miguel also saw a 22-conference streak of playoff appearances come to a shock end. The last time the Beermen missed the playoffs was in the 2015 Commissioner’s Cup when they finished ninth with a 4-7 win-loss record.
It was also the first time since Barangay Ginebra in the 2005 Fiesta Conference that a defending champion missed the quarterfinals the following season.
Prior to this conference, SMB was also coming off a semifinal finish in the 49th Season opener – the Governors’ Cup.
It has been a rocky road for the Beermen in a conference where it switched coaches, made a key trade to get younger, and had a revolving door of imports.
The Beermen bounced from Quincy Miller to Torren Jones to Jabari Narcis to Malik Pope but all proved to be ineffective, From the four, it was only Jones who had a winning record after going 2-0 with the Beermen.
San Miguel also pulled off a trade when it acquired Juami Tiongson and Drei Cahilig from Terrafirma in exchange for Terrence Romeo and Vic Manuel. But that transaction hasn’t exactly translated into victories.
Even the coaching ranks was shuffled when Leo Austria returned to his role as head coach, with Jorge Gallent relegated to team consultant after the Beermen started with a 1-2 record.
SMB goes 4-5 under Austria
But even Austria, who won nine PBA titles with the team, couldn’t turn the Beermen's campaign around as SMB went a 4-5 under him - a victory over Converge its only one against teams in the Top Eight.
Now the Beermen for an early vacation, giving management enough time to ponder what it did wrong before the team re-convenes for the Philippine Cup.
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