Photo Credit: PBA.PH

It still puzzles me how the San Miguel Beermen were not able to adjust to the kind of defense thrown at them by the Purefoods TJ Giants for three straight games thereby rendering them their first three straight losses eliminating them this conference. The Giants take away all hope that was left for the Beermen as they destroyed them in Game 6 of the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup 87-78 lead by another sterling performance by Roger Yap for the third straight game.

How the Beermen played was another pain in the eye as they crumbled once again right at the start of the first quarter with two straight turnovers and let the Giants mount several leads and never recovered from there. The story of the game was almost similar to the previous two except that it all ended tonight.

Outside shooting was again horrible together with their inability to convert point-blank layups as was the case with Jay Washington who had an offnight. I don’t know what Siot Tanquingcen was thinking when he constantly did not deploy a legitimate center in many parts of the game benching the likes of Mick Pennisi and Dorian Pena. The result was Purefoods domination of the offensive board and too many second chance points.

Its a painful loss and as an avid fan, I cannot take it lightly if we want to defend our crown next conference and to get another good look at the All-Filipino Conference crown next season. Reshuffling and trading of players is necessary to improve the chemistry. It is also imperative to remove players that do not fit to the system. There was a mention of a trade so that is a welcome news. Hopefully with that move we can strengthen our strong lineup on paper but weak in the actual game. Will we also see the end of Siot? Hmmm…

Enough! More of the game story from the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA.PH) below:

GIANTS MARCH ON TO FINALS; GAME 1 WEDNESDAY

Sunday, February 21, 2010 – 22:51 — junior

PUREFOODS is back in the place where it is most usually is and used a star-laden lineup as ladder.

For the third straight game the Giants mastered the San Miguel Beermen, carving an emphatic 87-78 victory Sunday to earn a return trip to the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup championship series at the Cuneta Astrodome.

Roger Yap came up with another sterling all-around game with 20 points and 11 rebounds, leading Purefoods’ balanced effort on both ends of the court that spelled the big difference.

In the end, the Giants led anew from start to finish and had little trouble en route to the victory that wrapped up the best-of-seven semifinals duel at 4-2.

Next up for the Giants, who last won the tournament in 2006 and lost in the ’08 finals to Sta. Lucia Realty, are the Alaska Aces in another race-to-four duel that starts Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Even Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio had to admit it was his players’ grit and determination that enabled them to hurdle such a power-packed team as SMB.

“The All-Filipino is all about pride and Purefoods just wanted to be back because we believe we can figure prominently in the All-Filipino finals,” said Gregorio.

Purefoods is in its seventh finals confrontation with Alaska and first since the 2002 Governors Cup which the then Hotdogs won in seven games.

Alaska has beaten Purefoods in the two previous times they’ve met in the championship series of the import-less tournament, the last during the 2001 edition via a 4-1 count.

Gregorio doesn’t want to look as far ahead as that, but feels the outcome will be a lot different this time with the way his charges have been playing of late.

“Winning against San Miguel is like winning the championship,” said Gregorio. “But we are now faced with the best team in the league and we hope we have enough legs to prevail.”

Simply put, the Beermen, who as the No. 2 seed behind the Aces after the eliminations, came up short this time after failing to match the Giants’ defensive intensity and mustering the offensive capability expected from such a star-studded lineup.

“At the start of the conference and after looking at their roster, I was hoping we could at least be in the semifinals,” related Gregorio. “But my players wanted more. We knew all along it doesn’t take the best players to win, but it takes players who fit in the (system) the best.

“It happened in our roster, when the players embraced the roles given them and now we’re back in the finals after a three-year dry spell.”

Arwind Santos had 20 points and eight rebounds and Mike Cortez, Dondon Hontiveros and Olsen Racela each had at least 10 points for SMB, which trailed by as many as 28-48 in the second quarter and couldn’t breach the six-point barrier after that.

The Beermen’s last gasp came when Santos’ triple made it a 64-70 count. Then the Giants scored six of the next eight points to practically seal the deal right there.

As a result, SMB is relegated to the one-game battle for third place with Ginebra.

James Yap had 18 points and Marc Pingris added 15 points and 13 rebounds for his sixth double-double in the conference and third in the series. Rafi Reavis chipped in 12 and eight and Kerby Raymundo 11 points.

San Miguel just couldn’t get its game that untracked and trailed by as much as 20 points following an atrocious nine-minute stretch in the second period.

After scoring the first seven points of the quarter to move within 23-26, the Beermen missed all but one of 12 field goal tries to the Giants’ 8-of-13 shooting capped by Rafi Reavis’ short stab off a nifty assist from Artadi.

Such differing touches from the field was evident from the start as Pingris and Raymundo enabled Purefoods to race to a 21-9 start before ending the opening period ahead by 22-16.

The scores:

Purefoods TJ Giants - 87 Yap R. 20, Yap J. 18, Pingris 15, Reavis 12, Raymundo 11, Canaleta 7, Artadi 3, Allado 1, Maierhofer 0, Simon 0, Adducul 0

San Miguel Beermen - 78 Santos 20, Cortez 17, Hontiveros 14, Racela 10, Washington 4, Seigle 4, Villanueva 3, Custodio 2, Ildefonso 2, Pena 2, Miranda 0,Pennisi 0.

Quarters: 22-16, 48-32, 64-56, 87-78

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