San Miguel Beermen Basketball Updates

Photo Credit: PBA.PH

May 7, 2010 – The San Miguel Beermen gave the Sta. Lucia Realtors a dose of their own medicine – defense. The Beermen played a tight defense all game long as they tripped the Sta. Lucia Realtors, 93-74 behind the stellar performance of Arwind Santos who dished out an import-like numbers with 18 points and 15 rebounds.

The win extended San Miguel’s hot streak to 7 and enabled them to top the first round of the eliminations at 8-1 in the team standings.

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Photo Credit: PBA.PH

May 2, 2010 – Down by 18 points in the third quarter and things not going their way, the San Miguel Beermen did not back down and turned to their most seasoned veteran Olsen Racela to stage a furious comeback, 80-72 against the defense-oriented BMEG Derby Ace Llamados.

Derby Ace built the huge 18-point lead behind the many turn overs of the San Miguel Beermen coupled with Gabe Freeman getting his fourth foul early in the third quarter. With the impending loss looming in his very eyes, San Miguel Beermen coach Siot Tanquingcen pulled a surprise package in Olsen Racela and Joseph Yeo. Olsen brought back stability in the game and orchestrated major plays. Yeo, on the other hand; broke Derby Ace’s defense by slashing into the middle. Together, the two allowed the Beermen to reduce the 18-point lead into just 9 going into the fourth quarter.

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Photo Credit: PBA.PH

April 30, 2010 – As I predicted in our Facebook fan page, the San Miguel Beermen‘s chemistry will vastly improve after the All-Star break. This prediction came to life today as the San Miguel dominates Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 105-97, behind the huge efforts of several players and primarily bigman Jay Washington.

The San Miguel Beermen played sweet music together early in the game and put off the Elasto Painters as early as the third quarter after they pad the lead as high as 23 points. The starters played a brilliant first quarter behind the stellar quarterbacking of main point guard Alex Cabagnot. The Beermen scored a huge 34 points in the first quarter behind Gabe Freeman, Jay Washington, and the red-hot Dondon Hontiveros.

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Photo Credit: PBA.PH

April 18, 2010 – The San Miguel Beermen squad is improving game after game and they showed it tonight as they dump the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings, 102-94. Best player of the game Arwind Santos lead the Beermen charge with 24 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 steals. The win gave the Beermen their fourth straight win and a 5-1 solo leadership in the team standings.

The Beermen jump the gun on the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings right after the opening bell as they blew them 29-10 at the end of the first quarter through stiffling defense and torrid shooting lead by Alex Cabagnot, Dondon Hontiveros, Arwind Santos, and Gabe Freeman. The Gin Kings were repeatedly frustrated on failed attempts to penetrate by getting blocked by Dondon and Alex. San Miguel ends the first quarter with a 29-10 lead.

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Photo Credit: PBA.PH

April 11, 2010 – No import – no problem! The San Miguel Beermen pulled another All-Filipino trick against the Alaska Aces as they beat them in overtime 95-89 despite the absence of Gabe Freeman in the extension period behind the heroics of two-time MVP Danny Ildefonso. Alex Cabagnot also showed brilliance in the regulation.

It was a pulsating ballgame with Gabe Freeman’s last foul almost handing the Aces the win. Fortunately for the Beermen, Willie Miller missed his first free throw attempt after Jay Washington urged the fans to distract him.

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Photo Credit: PBA.PH

After failing to finish the last two games due to foul trouble and cramps, Gabriel Freeman finally completed a game with the San Miguel Beermen, even during the overtime period as they outlasted a fierce Talk N Text Tropang Texters, 112-106 at the Araneta Coliseum.

I enjoyed watching the game with the Beermen taking control most of the time. I somehow get mad when players assigned to guard Ranidel De Ocampo did not stick to him like glue when he started hitting his outside shots. And oh yeah, he even hit the game-extending three pointer. Anyways, he was simply unstoppable in this game. Thank God, he was not 100% in overtime together with Harvey Carey due to cramps.

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Photo Credit: PBA.PH

It was the second time that import Gabe Freeman went out of the playing court but the San Miguel Beermen is not so lucky this time around. After sitting on the bench mid in the fourth quarter due to cramps, the Gabe Freeman-led San Miguel Beermen lose the stronghold and eventually lose to the Coca-Cola Tigers as opposed to their first game against the Air21 Express. Chico Lanete led the Coca-Cola Tigers‘ late attack with his key three pointers and husle plays.

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Photo Credit: PBA.PH

As always, its good to start defending the crown with a win. The San Miguel Beermen achieved just that by derailing the Air21 Express through the heroics of its new recruit in Alex Cabagnot, big man Jay Washington, and import Gabe Freeman.

Though very far from having a perfect form, the Beermen performed just enough to subdue a gritty Air21 Express squad. Its pretty obvious that the Beermen are still lacking the chemistry that they need to make a good run for the championship. The many turnovers that they committed is a testament to this one. However, one good observation is that the Beermen are having improvements in terms of passing the ball around.

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Photo credit: PBA.PH

The day for the San Miguel Beermen‘s first match up this 2010 PBA Fiesta Conference starts as they battle a new-look Air21 Express – one of the few teams that made major player movements after the Philippine Cup.

The two teams were also involved in moving Mike “Cool Cat” Cortez to the Express in exchange for younger point guard Alex Cabagnot. As usual, players who were just recently traded usually played good basketball when they face their former teams so expect a good match up between Alex Cabagnot and Mike Cortez in the point guard position.

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Photo Credit: symbianize.com

The trade rumors giving a clue that an infiltrator and a mercenary (referring to a ninja) might just join the San Miguel Beermen camp became a reality last night as trade news of Joseph Yeo officially traded to the Beermen for Bonbon Custodio was confirmed last night.

The move shores up the San Miguel Beermen small guard position. Offense-wise, Joseph Yeo can give us additional points per game. More than anything else, his fearless slashing ability and penetration of the shaded is something so valuable – something that we missed so badly in the series against Purefoods where most of our guards except Denok, dared not get into for the fear of being blocked and clobbered by Purefoods big and long bigmen.

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