ONE can’t relax against a team like Magnolia and expect to win a game hands down.
San Miguel coach Jorge Gallent stressed that point as the Beermen had to survive a late fightback by the Hotshots to escape with a 103-95 win in the opener of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals on Friday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Complacency almost cost SMB the game
The Beermen saw a 94-74 lead with 6:39 to play reduced to just five in the final 73 seconds as Gallent admitted his team put their guards down when everything appeared to be over but the final score while leading by as many as 20 points.
“We just relaxed in the last three minutes of the game, and you know, when you relaxed against Magnolia, they’re just taking advantage of it,” said the Magnolia coach.
“It was just us relaxing for the last three minutes, and when you play a tough team like Magnolia, you have to play 48 minutes of basketball because if you don’t play 48 minutes, this is what’s going to happen."
Gallent rues Beermen's missed free throws
And then there were also the missed free throws by San Miguel, according to Gallent.
“We were missing a lot of free throws, that’s why they came back,” he said.
The Beermen shot just 61.4 percent from the foul line on 27-of-44 shooting, with Jericho Cruz going just 1-of-6 from the free-throw line including a couple of missed shots at the height of the Magnolia rally.
CJ Perez, who led all San Miguel locals with 19 points, agreed with Gallent on the issue of San Miguel relaxing in the endgame.
“Kailangan namin maging composed and huwag mag-relax sa mga ganung endgame, kasi nakakatakot yun, e,” said the Gilas Pilipinas pool player.
Indeed, the Hotshots gave the Beermen a big endgame scare but were good enough to weather the storm and get the win.
“It’s just good we didn’t panic. That’s the main thing. The players were composed and this bunch of players knew how to win. So lucky for me," said Gallent.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series resumes on Sunday also at the MoA Arena.
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