Home edge big factor for Beermen

MANILA, Philippines - San Miguel Beer hopes to cash in on the proverbial home-court advantage when it hosts Indonesia in the opener of their best-of-three series for the third ASEAN Basketball League crown at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City on Saturday.

“The one advantage that we have is that we have the homecourt edge,” said SMB coach Bobby Parks during yesterday’s PSA Forum at the Shakey’s UN Ave. “I got confidence in my team but it’s not going to be a cakewalk because I think both teams are evenly matched.”

The Beermen actually went through a wringer to get into the finals on their very first try, needing to beat the Westports Malaysia Dragons in sudden death of their semifinal series.

One thing going for San Miguel is that it has beaten Indonesia in all their three face-offs in the elims although both teams have tinkered with their respective rosters heading to the championship.

The Beermen topped the elims with a 17-4 record, and with the arrival of Fil-Am Chris Banchero and imports Duke Crews and Nick Fazekas, won nine of their last 11 games.

On the other hand, Indonesia won seven straight matches, thanks to the addition of Fil-Am Stanley Pringle and American Evan Brock. The streak includes a surprising sweep of the AirAsia Philippine Patriots, the inaugural champions, in the semis.

“We won all three games against them but they’re not the same team that we played before,” Parks said. “They went out and made some changes and we overhauled our team. It’s like we haven’t met before so it works both ways.”

“This is going to be the first time that I’ll face against them,” Banchero said. “We have watched them play and they look like a very good team. It’s going to be a great matchup and we’re going to have our hands full.”

Top local gunner Leo Avenido, who also joined Parks, Banchero, consultant Rajko Toroman and team manager Rico Meneses in the forum, is a candidate for the league’s MVP Award, but would rather focus on the championship

“Winning the MVP would be a bonus, what I want is the championship,” said Avenido. “But we have to do our homework, stay focused and sustain our form.”

The series opener is slated at 4 p.m. with Game 2 to be played in Jakarta, Indonesia on June 23. If necessary, a rubber match will be held on June 30, also in Manila.