A FAST start will be the key goal for Alaska, while San Miguel hopes to avoid endgame troubles as the Aces and Beermen collide in Game Four of the PBA Philippine Cup title series on Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum.
Although Alaska managed to pull off two huge come-from-behind victories in the Finals to regain the upperhand in the series, Compton said the Aces must try to avoid falling behind early by a big margin again.
The Aces seized control of the series with a 78-70 Game Three, needing to fight back from 21 points down.
[See Alaska pulls off mother of all comebacks in Game Three to take 2-1 lead over San Miguel in PBA Finals]
“I don’t know about keeping and sustaining an early lead, but I know we certainly don’t want to give them (Beermen) a huge lead,” said Alex Compton added the American coach, who is gunning for his first PBA title as a head coach and hoping to give Alaska its 15th title as a franchise.
“We need to continue to defend as a team with intensity,” he added.
The match starts at 7 p.m.
On the other hand, San Miguel coach Leo Austria reminded his players before the game to forget about the painful meltdown in Game Three.
“Sabi namin, kalimutan na namin iyon and let’s start all over again. Let’s just play hard and see what happens. Ang importante maglaro lang kami ng maayos,” said Austria.
[See SMB star Arwind Santos vows to do everything to avoid falling behind 1-3 to Alaska]
The 56-year-old San Miguel coach noted that they simply need to come up with the same hot start, and work hard to keep the intensity up throughout.
“Bakit ba kami lumamang ng malaki bago matalo in Game One and Game Three? Kasi ginawa namin ang dapat namin gawin. Iyon ang ibabalik namin,” he added.
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