SAN Miguel tries to gain a commanding 3-1 lead in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup finals against TNT on Sunday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
The Beermen and the Tropang Giga go at it again at 6 p.m.
See Arespacochaga has no regrets giving ball to Castro late in Game 3
San Miguel claimed the advantage in the best-of-seven finals series after beating TNT in overtime, 108-100, thanks to the heroics of Robbie Herndon.
Herndon picked up the slack after CJ Perez and Marcio Lassiter fouled out, scoring five of his eight points in overtime to help the Beermen to victory.
“Na-reduce sa best-of-five, now 1-0 kami ngayon. I hope na this win will give us some confidence. It’s a morale booster for the players,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.
June Mar Fajardo also dominated for San Miguel in Game Three as he dropped 27 points and 27 rebounds in the victory.
Austria though is bracing for a comeback by TNT as it doesn’t want to fall behind by two games in a championship series.
“We know that Talk ‘N Text is a solid team. Laging sinasabi na kami ang powerhouse, but ‘yung TNT is a solid team. ‘Yung team nila is composed of a lot of national team players and they are together for some time. There’s a lot of superstars in their line-up,” said Austria.
TNT looks to tie the series up, while welcoming back head coach Chot Reyes, who is scheduled to take over for Game Four even with Gilas Pilipinas taking on Saudi Arabia on Monday in the Fiba Basketball World Cup Asia qualifiers.
TNT assistant coach Sandy Arespacochaga said Reyes attended TNT practice on Saturday shortly after arriving from Lebanon after the Fiba Basketball World Cup Asia qualifiers game in Beirut.
“We were happy that we had an opportunity to win the game. Sayang lang hindi kami nanalo. But with the things that we emphasized, the players followed the game plan and execute it. The most important thing for us is what’s next. Tapos na ang game. We are down, 1-2. We got coach Chot coming back. That’s a very big boost for us,” said Arespacochaga.