CHICAGO - With the explicit goal of neutralizing an opposing team's most potent scorer, the box-and-1 is a defensive ploy as old as basketball.
Meralco unleashed that dragnet on five-star import Shabazz Muhammad, who dropped a conference-high 57 points that engineered San Miguel's 115-110 triumph when the two teams first met last March 5.
This time, with a semis berth at stake, the Bolts draped the box-on-1 on Muhammad with Chris Newsome, Bong Quinto and Cliff Hodge acting as chasers while the other Bolts formed a zone to keep the explosive former NBA Timberwolf away from the lane.
It worked wonders and Shabazz was held to a harmless 24 points on just 8-of-19 shooting from the field. The celebrated UCLA alum and CBA star also clunked all six of his 3-point attempts.
MERALCO 100. SAN MIGUEL 85.
"That was a tough one. They did a great job on the box-and-1 and it got me a little fatigued," Shabazz told me via text message after San Miguel's season ended in a stunning 15-point knockout.
Besides neutralizing Muhammad, Meralco also devised a defensive scheme that had three bigs rotate in double-teaming six-time MVP June Mar Fajardo, who was handcuffed to a rather tame 12-point, 12-rebound effort.
Meralco's third defensive set was to keep the ball off Muhammad's hands, which threw San Miguel's attack off-kilter and resulting in a horrible 32 of 83 shooting from the field (38 percent) and a pathetic 6-of-27 from 3 (22 percent).
How all those three defensive strategies worked to perfection doesn't require a Senate blue ribbon committee investigation.
"My players did an excellent job in executing our game plan," Meralco head coach Norman Black told me over the phone during his victorious drive home.
SAN MIGUEL'S LOSS WAS A STARK REMINDER THAT POWERHOUSE TEAMS CAN'T JUST BRING IN A TOP-FLIGHT, $70,000 A MONTH IMPORT ON SHORT NOTICE AND THINK IT'S ENOUGH TO WIN A TITLE.
Chemistry is important.
While San Miguel played like strangers in a pick-up game, the Bolts performed like an orchestra, thanks to countless hours of practice time together since early December when their import, Tony Bishop, first came.
Bishop edged himself closer to the Best Import Award with another gem - 32 points, 16 rebounds and 4 dimes.
"I'm going to TGIF's (Pasig branch) to celebrate with my family," he told me in a telephone interview while praising his teammates, especially Chris Newsome, Quinto and Hodge.
Newsome carded 22 points, Chris Banchero and Raymond Almazan combined for 17, and the Bolts rained 10 treys on the dazed and confused Beermen.
The Bolts are once again off to the Final Four.
San Miguel, meanwhile, is going home.
SADLY, THE BEERMEN COULDN'T SURVIVE LEO AUSTRIA.
Their inability to adjust to what Meralco was doing to them on defense reflected poorly on the limitations of the coaching staff.
Crisp passing, keeping the wings wide, and a whole lot of dribble penetration could have taken a lot of the heat away from the heavily-covered Shabazz.
Terrence Romeo did his best to save the sinking ship but he swished only 7 of 21 shots for 17 points in 31 minutes of action.
No thanks to the bite of Meralco's D, Romeo will endure another tragedy.
This was the perfect setting for Simon Enciso to shine with his ability to create, but he lingered in the bench alongside Von Pessumal, who also logged a Did Not Play (DNP).
While Black used 10 players and kept fresh legs on the floor at all times, helping Meralco race to a 21-point lead, Austria shortened his rotation to eight players, including his favorite and former college player Jericho Cruz, who logged 10 minutes and 42 seconds and had zero points to show for it.
In a chess match between two coaches. Norman Black got the checkmate.
I wonder when SMC director Alfranchis Chua gets tired of hearing the phrase "better luck next conference" and finally decides his flagship team may need a coaching overhaul.
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