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Photo Credit: PBA.PH

August 15, 2010 – The San Miguel Beermen simply won’t let the Alaska Aces celebrate early in the series as they foiled them to get the crown on a defensive battle, 96-94 to live another day taking Game 5 of the best-of-seven PBA Fiesta Conference Finals at the Araneta Coliseum.

Just before the game started, Patricia Hizon announced that assistant Gee Abanilla will call the shots for the Beermen, a move which the SMC Management calls a “pahiyang”. Its a big gamble on the part of SMC staring at a 1-3 series deficit needing to win 3 straight do-or-die games to win the championship.

Whatever they call it, I guess its a big test for Gee Abanilla to see if he can steer the Beermen on this difficult situation. If he succeeds, I am pretty sure he will handle San Miguel’s head coaching job next season.

The win showed the Beermen’s character on a nerve-wrenching close game where the winner was decided only after the last shot was released – a failed 3 point attempt by Cyrus Baguio. There’s a lot more to improve on the Beermen’s poise down the stretch as they almost lost the game despite having a sizeable lead coming into the last 2 minutes.

Import Gabe Freeman gets on fire on the second half after a so-so performance in the first half scoring most of his points on free throws. Jay Washington performed his usual good game after a bad game on Game 4.

After 4 games of poor showing, Dondon Hontiveros finally caught fire scoring on back-to-back triples in the first quarter and provided some more in the fourth.

Mick Pennisi was a surprise package who drained 3 triples and provided tough defense to import Diamon Simpson. Guard Dennis (Denok) Miranda also came out of his shell showing his best game so far in SMB uniform. He provided stingy defense to LA Tenorio while also contributing 12 points, 5 assists on a 5/6 field goal earning him the Best Player of the Game honors.

Not to be left out is 2-time MVP Danny Ildefonso who provided key baskets when Alaska was threatening to grab the driver’s seat. His post plays reminded me of his MVP days when he used to take the ball at crunch times.

Overall, it was a good performance by San Miguel despite almost losing the game towards the end. We have to recognize that Alaska thrives on close games and its a big win if we steal a close game from them. According to Quinito Henson, 5 Beermen scored in double figures – a statistic that showed that San Miguel is sharing the ball, a strategy that will stop Alaska from concentrating its defense on a few players.

We have a BIG game ahead of us on Wednesday. If we win this one, we will tie the series at 3-3. I spotted the game schedule on TV and it says that Game 7 will be held a week after – that is on another Wednesday, August 25 for some reasons. If we reach Game 7, we have a week to prepare. That’s enough time for the coaching staffs to map out key game plans, for players to get some rest, for the whole San Miguel Beermen team to prepare for the final battle – a chance to be written on the books of history as one of the three teams (Purefoods and Ginebra) to win a best-of-seven series after being down 1-3 in the series.