Air21 out for revenge

Air21 president Lito Alvarez said yesterday it’s destiny that brought the Express and San Miguel Beer to dispute the last quarterfinals slot in a do-or-die wildcard game in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum tonight.

“This is our chance for revenge,” said Alvarez. “It’s additional motivation for us to beat San Miguel. We’re also playing as Air21 for the last time. We’ve already informed the Board that starting next conference, we’ll be playing as Burger King. So we’d like Air21 to exit with a bang.”

In their first meeting this conference, San Miguel beat Air21, 130-129, in double overtime. But the Express was robbed of a win in the first extension when the referees erred in counting two points for Ranidel de Ocampo’s buzzer-beating triple. Alvarez protested the outcome and when San Miguel’s win was upheld by the Board, considered elevating the issue to the Games and Amusements Board (GAB).

Eventually, Air21 decided to drop the case.

“Mr. (Bert) Lina felt the decision to not bring up the case to the GAB was for the good of the league,” said Alvarez. “Chairman Joaqui (Trillo) talked to us and we agreed to move on. Now, the players have something more to prove against San Miguel.”

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Alvarez said the Express worked hard during the holidays to prepare for the Beermen.

“It was an opportunity for us to blend with our new guys,” said Alvarez. “Celino (Cruz) joined us for the first time last Friday. We’re very excited about our lineup. Don (Allado) is a welcome addition because he addresses our weakness at center. He makes us stronger in the middle especially since J. R. (Quinahan) has been playing very well and Homer (Se) will be out three weeks due to a knee injury. The offense that we lost in trading Ranidel, we gained back through Cyrus (Baguio). With Ranidel, we used to play three-big with Arwind (Santos) and Niño (Canaleta). Now, with Cyrus, we can even play three-small.”

Alvarez said the bonus of eliminating San Miguel is playing Barangay Ginebra in the quarterfinals.

“We lost to Ginebra in the Fiesta Conference finals but that was with imports,” said Alvarez. “Now, we’ve got the chance to beat Ginebra with an all-Filipino lineup so the guys are looking forward to that. Of course, we’re not looking beyond San Miguel.”

Alvarez said taking San Miguel’s Olsen Racela out of the equation will be critical.

“We plan to make it difficult for Olsen to execute,” said Alvarez. “He has been playing well for San Miguel lately and we’ll use Marvin (Cruz) and Egay (Billones) to defend him. Against Purefoods in our first wildcard win, Marvin and Wynne (Arboleda) started together then we brought in Cyrus and Gary (David), also together. We’ve got a lot of options now. In the eliminations, we lost to Purefoods twice but we beat them in the wildcards. We hope it’s the same thing with San Miguel because we also lost to them twice in the eliminations.”

Also expected to make life miserable for Racela are Arboleda and Celino Cruz, both rugged on-the-ball defenders.

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Air21 coach Bo Perasol said his emphasis in the knockout game is defense.

“Our offense is automatic,” he explained. “That’s why we’re stressing defense. We’ve told the guys to understand that in our system, we’ll divide playing time that whoever is inside, should and must deliver. Some guys are used to getting a lot of playing time but things are different now. Guys can’t expect the same playing time. We’ve got roles to play and if we play together, we’ll be a much better team.”

Perasol said Danny Seigle’s re-emergence has its good and bad points.

“We’ve scouted Danny,” he went on. “We notice when Danny’s in, Jay Washington is out or some other wingman so he takes away something from the rotation. Of course, Danny is Danny and we’ve got to be prepared to shut him down, too.”

Perasol said the Express can only get stronger with the new additions.

“We know Don has what it takes to win,” he continued. “Don plays with a lot of intensity and he has something to prove. We all have something to prove. If and when we get past San Miguel, we’ll go up against Ginebra and that’s going to be a very exciting series.”

Expect a no-quarters-given-no-quarters-taken thriller in tonight’s sudden-death game. Destiny is knocking on the door but which team will answer the call?