PBASIM FINAL FOUR IS COMPLETE

PBASIM FINAL FOUR IS COMPLETE
San Mig completes amazing comeback, to face Petron in the conference finals

Davao City - The San Mig Coffee Super Mixers did what everybody else deemed impossible, as it won a deciding Game 7 against the talented Global Port Batang Pier, 97-84 to advance to the South Conference Finals and face the already waiting Petron Blaze Boosters.

It was supposed to be a walk in the park for the top seeded Super Mixers - holding a season record of 47-11 - but the basketball gods had a different call that time. After an 86-79 triumph in Game 1, San Mig faltered in the next three games to the fourth-seeded Batang Pier that included a 67-83 blowout in the Game 2.

"After falling 3-1 in the series, everybody in the team was down because we enjoyed a lot of success in the season and can't believe that it's going to be over. Our back were against the wall and I just said that it ain't over 'till it's over. We just have to work hard, learn from our mistakes and focus one game at a time. Now we can relieve our minds a little bit and prepare for the conferene finals. And I also have to give credit to Global Port. They gave us a hell of a series.", said by San Mig coach Luigi Trillo during the post-game interview.

San Mig played a balanced offense in Game 7, with Wynne Arboleda scoring a team-high 19 points off the bench. MVP candidate Arwind Santos had a bad shooting night, chipping in 12 points with a 4-for-17 shooting from the field, 0-for-5 from 3pt area but still managed to help in the rebounding department grabbing 12 boards. Mick Pennisi scored 16 points, Paolo Hubalde had 13 while starters Rob Parker and Willy Wilson each had 12 and 10 respectively. In all, the Super Mixers shot a respectable .456 from the field but had horrible .304 shooting from downtown. John Arigo meanwhile led the Batang Pier's scoring with 21 points while playing 40 minutes. Rookie Of the Year shoo-in Jared Dillinger had a subpar night, only scoring 12 points and turned the ball over six times - a team high.

"Maganda 'yung depensa nila kaya medjo minalas. 'Nung narealize ko 'yun, nag focus nalang ako sa rebound saka sa defense. Buong series pinahirapan talaga kami ng Global kaya nagpapasalamat ako kay God na kami ang pinalad.", said Arwind Santos, who just released his first ever music single titled "Bagyo", dedicated to the victims of the typhoon.

The Global Port Batang Pier which is mostly comprised of veterans tried to keep pace and pushed San Mig into the brink of being eliminated but couldn't hold its ground even though having a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. Head Coach Rajko Toroman was still thankful and promised to come back even better next season despite of the outcome.

"We had some close games but couldn't finish. That has been our problem all season. But we'll take some time off and get back to practice and I'm still thankful for everybody especially the players for working hard. We'll improve next season", said Toroman.

Waiting for San Mig Coffee in the South Conference Finals is the second-seeded Petron Blaze Boosters. The Boosters has just finished off the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in six games to get the first seat in the conference finals. Petron had a 3-1 lead in their own series before Rain or Shine threatened to comback with a 102-89 win in Game 5, cutting the series deificit to one. But Jimmy Alapag and the rest of the Boosters still prevailed in Game 6 and closed out the series, 93-86.

"In our upcoming matchup against Petron, I have to say that we have to go back to the drawing board and better evaluate so that we'll have better strategies. The coaching staff will look further into this. One thing's for sure, we cannot overlook Petron and the series against them would be a good one because they've got good players on board.", answered Trillo when he was asked about the upcoming conference finals.

With San Mig Coffee's improbable comeback, the PBASim Playoffs Final Four is completed. Along with Petron and San Mig going toe-to-toe in the South, the supremacy in the North will be battled by the KIA Sorentos facing the Alaska Aces.

I was not surprised actually na umabot ng Game 7 to. While San Mig cruised past almost every team during the regular season, napansin ko medyo hirap talaga sila sa GlobalPort, ilang beses din ata silang tinalo nito during the regular season. Mas surprised pa nga ako na natalo ng tatlong sunod ang Global after leading the series 3-1. Science pero good job still for Prof's Batang Pier. For San Mig, they deserved the win as they were very consistent all throughout. May mga contrapelo lang siguro talaga hehe.

Teka, kasama ba sa Coaching Staff ng San Mig si Iceman? lol meaning since eliminated na sila, may ibang raket siya? hahaha

Nice read ronster, btw.

I was really hoping for a Global Port upset as it will not only
give us(me and prof.) a chance to continue our finals rivalry (the last 3 pbasim finals which i won the last two) it will also eliminate the super red hot san mig coffee from the contention.
Honestly as much as possible i really want to avoid San Mig Coffee like the way i avoided
Barako Bull in the first round of the playoffs. No disrespect to the two other semifinalist but it is the San Mig Coffee who is the heavy favorite to win it all and the team that has the ability to match up with KIA man for man and talent for talent.

rh0xxy wrote:

I was not surprised actually na umabot ng Game 7 to. While San Mig cruised past almost every team during the regular season, napansin ko medyo hirap talaga sila sa GlobalPort, ilang beses din ata silang tinalo nito during the regular season. Mas surprised pa nga ako na natalo ng tatlong sunod ang Global after leading the series 3-1. Science pero good job still for Prof's Batang Pier. For San Mig, they deserved the win as they were very consistent all throughout. May mga contrapelo lang siguro talaga hehe.

Teka, kasama ba sa Coaching Staff ng San Mig si Iceman? lol meaning since eliminated na sila, may ibang raket siya? hahaha

Nice read ronster, btw.

Haha raket talaga kume? Hehe. Nagpart time job lng kay lolo tikmoy

I was also feeling bad about it nung nag 1-2 kame sa Global den nag 1-3 na kame, sabi ko sayang ung naipundar namin sa elimination na homecourt advantage kung dito pa lang laglag na kame, mahirap kalaban Globalport kasi like us players are playing out of their natural position. Jared playing point at Arwind playing guard, we have experiments throughout the season lamang pa nga ata GBP sa head to head namin.

zone defense saves us here, and kumuha na nga ako nang reinforcement outside the coaching staff, i consulted the great Iceman about the line up, mali lang ako nung una kasi di ko na ilagay ung dapat na depthchart haha pinagalitan tuloy ako hehehe then we make the adjustment and boom! 3 great games from the team.