Petron Blaze Boosters Basketball Updates

Photo Credit: PBA.PH

With the San Miguel Beermen failing to stop another monster performance by Diamon Simpson and failing to execute at crunch time, the Alaska Aces went on to win Game 2, 94-90, of the 2010 PBA Fiesta Conference Finals at the Araneta Coliseum.

Simpson practically dominated the post even with double or triple teams thrown at him by the Beermen. He even drained long range bombs when the clock is ticking down.

San Miguel got the golden opportunity to catch up with the leading Aces during the dying seconds of the fourth quarter after Simpson got his sixth and last foul but the Beermen were not able to capitalize due to turn overs and poor execution.

Alaska started out strong in the first quarter leading as much as 10 points or more. To add more damage to the Beermen’s problems, gabe Freeman committed his third personal foul with around 3 mins in the first quarter forcing coach Siot Tanquingcen to sit him out. The locals managed to slashed Alaska’s lead after the Beermen caught fire from beyond the arc behind Joseph Yeo and Jay Washington. First quarter ends with Alaska leading by 5, 31-26.

San Miguel opened up the second quarter with a 7-0 run behind the attacks of Joseph Yeo and Arwind Santos. However, Alaska was quick to counter with its second unit on the floor. Mark Borboran contributed 6 straight points ending the second quarter with Alaska still ahead, 50-45.

Arwind Santos and Joeseph Yeo continued their attacks in the third period but Diamon Simpson continued to show his dominance in the paint. The Beermen was able to get back the lead but Alaska quickly got it back once again and closed out the third period still ahead at 75-71.

Alaska continued to show brilliance even if Diamon Simpson and LA Tenorio were sitting on the bench at the start of the fourth quarter with their second stringers providing the extra points while containing the Beermen. They even extended Alaska’s lead 79-71. San Miguel fought back with Arwind Santos providing the needed points. The Beermen even got the lead behind Olsen Racela’s jumper, 84-83.

However, San Miguel was not able to take care of this lead as they played catch up once again towards the end of the game. Alaska was able to escaoe with this win as Alaska coach Tim Cone have wanted to and is now holding a commanding 2-0 lead.

Commentaries

Dondon Hontiveros is once again missing in action. His services is badly missing by failing to contribute on offense while being a step slower with his man. He better turn in a good performance in Game 3 if the wants to help the team.

Alaska’s backcourt is dominating San Miguel’s. The Beermen should find a solution to stop both LA Tenorio and Cyrus Baguio even with San Miguel’s deep guard rotation.

Simpson’s dominance at the post is giving San Miguel a big headache. No one on San Miguel’s bench really at this time can stop him from dominating. The vaunted San Miguel defense that won them the semifinals series vanished in thin air with this big hole in the middle. This calls for new strategic adjustments to stop the bleeding. The game on Wednesday can be considered a do-or-die game for the Beermen as no team in PBA history was able to go back from a 0-3 deficit. We don’t want to be in that situation as even if we have the materials to come back from 0-3, it will be very difficult.

As for the fans, let’s keep the faith in our team. Its just 2 games but its not yet over. Winning Game 3 will be a good step for the Beermen to get back into this series. They just need to take it one game at a time.