FOUR years after, Magnolia finally got its payback against Phoenix.
Chito Victolero vividly remembered how a different breed of Fuel Masters sent the Hotshots packing inside the Clark bubble after beating them in the quarterfinals of the PBA Philippine Cup.
Who could forget after all Matthew Wright hitting that memorable one-legged three-pointer in the waning seconds of the game at the Angeles University Foundation? That gave Phoenix a dramatic 89-88 win to advance to the semifinals of the only conference played during the season following the outbreak of the pandemic.
The second-seeded Fuel Masters enjoyed a twice-to-beat edge back then against the Hotshots, who ended up tied with four other teams with similar 7-4 records, but fell to as low as no. 7 in the playoffs due to a lower quotient.
“Oo natatandaan namin yun,” said Victolero when asked if he recalled the sad experience.
“We also went back to that. Pinag-usapan din namin yun (before the semis).”
On Wednesday night though, Magnolia got to exorcise the ghost of that All-Filipino Cup episode as the Hotshots ended the Fuel Masters’ Cinderella run in the Commissioner’s Cup by way of an 89-79 win in Game 4 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Calvin Abueva, who was still with Phoenix during that season, was held scoreless in the series-clinching victory but finished with four points and had an assist to cancel out his match-up against former teammate Jason Perkins, who only had six points and six rebounds on 3-of-12 shooting from the floor after averaging 18.0 points per game during the free three matches of the series.
Victolero recalled how Magnolia was looking forward to completing an unfinished business in the Philippine Cup that same year after losing to San Miguel in the finals of the same conference the previous season.
Only for the Hotshots to fall ambush at the hands of the Fuel Masters.
“It was a motivation for us,” said Victolero of the bubble loss.
“Now we really have to move forward.”
Magnolia only has a day to celebrate its first finals appearance since the 2021 Philippine Cup as Game 1 of its best-of-seven finals against San Miguel kicks off on Friday also at the MOA Arena.
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