SAN Miguel Beer coach Leo Austria wants his team to regain the PBA Philippine Cup, the pro league’s crown jewel.
“Once na natapos iyong SEA Games, June Mar (Fajardo) and Mo (Tautuaa) were able to get to practice. It gave us confidence kasi excited iyong mga players dahil sa inilaro ni June Mar,” Austria said.
“But I told them that June Mar is (just) another player of the team, his strength is the team. We still have to work hard dahil alam ko na hinihingi ng mga players mismo na this is our conference. They initiated this kind of preparation,” he added.
The Beermen seek a second straight victory when they battle NLEX today as the tourney resumes at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
The curtain-raiser is set at 5:15 o’clock before newcomer Converge and Magnolia try to notch a maiden triumph when they square off in the nightcap at 7:15 p.m.
SMB pulled off a 108-100 win over Phoenix last Wednesday night to kick off its bid to reclaim lost glory on a stirring note.
Fajardo wound up with a double-double of 24 points and 15 rebounds, on top of six assists for the Beermen, while Vic Manuel also had 24 markers.
Fajardo also announced he is launching a personal charity project in honor of his late mother Marites, who passed away last year. He will donate P200 for every point he scores and P1,000 for every three-pointer he booms in this season.
An additional P100,000 will be given to the still to-be-named charity in coordination with the PBA if and when SMB reaches the finals.
CJ Perez and Chris Ross also had 19 and 17 points, respectively for the Beermen.
“I told them ‘You will be the ones who will decide what to do. We’re just helping you.’ I’m happy because this is the first time we had an offseason training to address iyong mga kailangan namin, especially chemistry, nakita naman kanina sa ginawa nila,” Austria said.
“But I think it’s not enough because it was a close game from start to finish and I’m expecting a hard game every time because kami ang team to beat na iniisip lagi pagdating ng All-Filipino.”
