CHICAGO - It's an odd day to hold a funeral, but that's what happened on Wednesday night at the Araneta Coliseum where San Miguel Beer's playoff hopes were finally laid to rest.
No thanks to NLEX's 94-76 demolition of Eastern, the Beermen, who carded a flimsy 5-7 record, forfeited the opportunity to defend their PBA Commissioner's Cup title in the playoffs.
The shocking, quick exit snaps a streak of 22 straight playoff appearances, a financial tragedy for the players, the coaching staff and the rest of the team given how exceedingly generous the playoffs and championship bonuses are at San Miguel.
READ SMB has time to ponder what went wrong after shock end to title defense
Also burned into ashes is June Mar Fajardo's bid for a 12th Best Player of the Conference award. Averaging 20/8 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and one block per in 12 games, the Cebuano giant was a cinch to burnish his trophy collection.
Instead, he goes home to watch the playoffs in his living room. Weirdly, the eight-time league MVP now has one thing in common with those guys at Blackwater and Terrafirma.
A coaching change and a slew of four imports - one good and three below average - wasted Fajardo's heavy lifting while chipping away precious time from the 35-year old's athletic prime.
Here's some silver linings, though.
San Miguel now has plenty of time to prepare for the next conference and sort out their coaching situation.
HK EASTERN GOING SOUTH.
After a strong start which saw it sniff the top of the standings, Hong Kong Eastern has plummeted like a falling star.
They're on a two-game skid, losing to the NLEX Road Warriors and the Magnolia Hotshots by a combined 47 points. They're in the quarterfinals with a 7-5 slate but they look tired and have zero momentum.
Nobody should mistake HKE as the Bay Area Dragons ever again.
Moral of the story?
You can't be in three tournaments - the PBA, the Hong Kong domestic league, and the EASL -- all at once and expect a wonderful outcome.
UE COACHING SEARCH UPDATE.
More names have been added to the list of candidates for the UE men's basketball head-coaching position after Boyet Fernandez and Cholo Martin interviewed for the job today. school sources told me.
Previously, Ariel Vanguardia, Chris Gavina, and Josh Reyes have showed up at UE for interviews.
The president, principal and sports director of UE will decide who gets hired. Also voting for the next Red Warriors coach are Jean Alabanza, Gary Ong and Wilson Young of Tanduay, the university's chief booster.
A decision is imminent.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
