SAN Miguel acting coach Jorge Gallent stood by his decision to go small down the stretch in his team’s 103-102 loss to Bay Area in Game One of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals on Wednesday at the Philsports Arena.
Jorge Gallent on going small late
Gallent made a curious move to take out June Mar Fajardo for wingman Jericho Cruz just a possession after the six-time MVP scored on a putback to give the Beermen a 102-99 lead with 46.1 seconds left.
With import Devon Scott as the Beermen’s only big man inside, the Dragons scored on back-to-back possessions, with Hayden Blankley hitting a layup with 32 seconds left to trim the lead to one before Kobey Lam made his own version to put his team up for good with 6.1 seconds remaining.
In San Miguel’s offensive possession that sandwiched Bay Area’s two scoring opportunities, Cruz missed a three-point attempt with 12 ticks remaining that would’ve given the Beermen a 105-101 lead.
Gallent fielded Fajardo back after Lam’s go-ahead basket to no avail.
“Late ako ng konti,” Gallent admitted of putting Fajardo back in. “But I just wouldn’t mind that because Jericho had an open shot. He just missed it. I was just scared that if I call a timeout, they would have a defensive scheme.”
“June Mar was there naman in the end, so we just kinda played individual basketball. We have to take that out and play as a team.”
Asked if he would’ve done something differently, Gallent lived by his decisions.
“No, I was okay,” Gallent said. “It was just breaks of the game. We had a great opportunity. Up three [with] 47 seconds left, but that’s how it is. We just lost by one possession.”
Gallent, though, would like to see more of the positives that put the Beermen up by as many as 16 points as they try to equalize the series in Game Two on Friday at 5:45 p.m.
“Aggressiveness, playing team offense and team defense. That was the main thing,” Gallent said.
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