NUMBERS must be running wildly in Magnolia coach Chito Victolero’ mind as the Hotshots brace for another physical match against Meralco today in their PBA Philippine Cup semifinals duel at the Don Honorio Ventura State University Gym in Bacolor, Pampanga.
Top seed TNT and San Miguel Beer break their 1-1 deadlock in their own series in the nightcap, but most of the highlight should fall on the opener.
Boosted by a 92-78 Game 2 win last Wednesday, the Hotshots took a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series and moved closer to their immediate target of booking a return trip to the conference finals, where they lost to the Beermen in the 2018 and 2019 editions.
Taking their cue from others before them, Victolero and Magnolia star guard Paul Lee prefer to take it one game at a time, starting with yesterday’s practice where all the gameplans and plays were either produced or fine-tuned some more.
“Focus muna kami sa tomorrow’s practice,” Lee said after scoring a game-high 28 points in Game 2. “Kasi iyun ‘yung… kumbaga ‘yung nag-eensayo kami, ‘yung preparation namin sobrang vital going to the game. So siguro one step at a time muna.”
“We’ll just try to rest tonight, study the tape tomorrow morning and then prepare kung anuman magiging gameplan namin on Friday,” said Victolero. “Of course, tulad nga ng sabi ni Paul, very vital ‘yung preparations namin and we treat every game as a very important game.
“We’ll treat the game as possession-by-possession. We live on that. Kailangan muna naming magpahinga, makakuha ng energy again in preparation for tomorrow’s practice and game namin sa Friday.”
Such preparations are necessary in the face of an expected fierce fightback by Meralco, which absorbed a 79-88 loss in the series opener last Sunday.
The teams’ respective body counts could even favor the Hotshots should Bolts starting center Raymond Almazan, who sprained his left ankle in Game 2, fail to suit up or play hobbled.
That’s still not enough reason for Victolero’s wards to ease their foot off the pedal, what with the Bolts still having the required number of players around.
“We will not relax. We’ll try to push hard as long as mayroon kaming limang kalaban doon,” Victolero said, adding he expects Game 3 to be more physical and rugged.
“Both teams want to win so of course they have to give their best effort. It’s (going to be) a battle of mental toughness in a physical game.”
As ferocious should be the TNT-SMB tussle.
The Beermen bounced back from a sorry 88-89 opening loss with an equally thrilling 98-96 squeaker also last Wednesday, when they battled back from 19 points down before Marcio Lassiter delivered the game-winner through an undergoal stab in the last second.
“We’re so happy we were able to level the series,” said SMB coach Leo Austria after the win. “It gives us a little bit of relief. It’s very hard to play when you’re down 0-2.”
Austria added the squeaker gives the Beermen a bit of momentum and puts the burden of adjustment on the Tropang Giga.
“Itong kalaban namin will think and do everything to know what happened dito (Game 2),” Austria pointed out. “You can never know kung ano pa mangyayari. Knowing that team is a very organized team, so hihimayin nila, ia-analyze nila itong game.”
For SMB, it’s about not falling behind early, a trend that appeared first in the opener when the Beermen had to overcome — and nearly did — a 12-point deficit in the last nine minutes.
