Alaska Milk and Purefoods return to the very venue where they enjoyed their best years in the league. The intriguing question is whether the Aces and the Hotdogs can relive their glorious past at the Astrodome as they battle the San Miguel Beermen and the Red Bull Thunder, respectively, in the crucial Game Three of their respective best-of-five duels in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Final Four in the Pasay venue tonight.
With the league making a rare visit in its former house since leaving it after the 1998 season, the Aces and the Hotdogs – the teams with the most number of titles won here – set out hoping to have made the right adjustments in their games in their bid to bounce back from a sorry loss in Game Two.
The Aces clash with the Beermen at 5:15 p.m., then the Hotdogs collide with the Thunder at 7:30 p.m.
Sentimental favorites tonight could well be the Aces and the Hotdogs because of their rich winning tradition here.
For the record, Alaska won all but two of their 10 championships at the Astrodome, including their grandslam in 1996. The Hotdogs also had their best years here, specially to Alvin Patrimonio who powered Purefoods to a championship each in 1993, 1994 and 1997 –leading to his MVP plums. San Miguel ended up hoisting a championship trophy here only twice (1993 Governors Cup and 1994 All-Filipino) while Red Bull has yet to play a single game here as a PBA ballclub.
However, the Beermen and the Thunder will likely have other things in mind when they set foot in the Pasay hoopdome.
San Miguel and Red Bull look determined to make it two in a row to move a win away of the best-of-seven title series.
"They will surely try to come back but, of course, we’ll do our best to make it 2-1 in our favor. We’ll try to sustain the momentum of our Game Two win," said San Miguel coach Jong Uichico.
"It’s now their (the Hotdogs’) turn to make adjustments. But I’m sure the boys will be ready to battle. We’ve made the right adjustments physically and mentally," said Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao.
San Miguel and Red Bull played with clinical precision in hacking out a 79-71 win and a 95-76 triumph to tie their series with Alaska and Purefoods Wednesday.
Alaska coach Tim Cone said his boys became emotional and lost their temper as they dropped the game. Purefoods coach Eric Altamirano, on the other hand, said Red Bull simply played great.