Effort for Alaska, unity for San Miguel

MANILA, Philippines - San Miguel Beer coach Leo Austria said unity brought the Beermen to the PBA Philippine Cup Finals and it will lead them to victory over Alaska in the best-of-seven series that began with a bang at the Smart Araneta Coliseum the other night.

“It will come down to adjustments,” said Austria. “Unity is our strong point. Everybody is on the same page, we all want to win. There are no factions, we’re all united. Some people are trying to create intrigue by claiming a rift between Alex (Cabagnot) and Arwind (Santos). That’s not true. We understand each other. We work together. Like JuneMar (Fajardo) mentioned, he doesn’t care about the Best Player of the Conference award, he just wants the championship.”

In Game 1, San Miguel blew a pair of 22-point leads to lose to Alaska, 88-82, in overtime. Game 2 is scheduled 7 tonight at the Big Dome.

Alaska coach Alex Compton said San Miguel is favored and that’s why his strategy is to keep every game low-scoring. “We did that at Welcoat when we played against better teams,” he said. “We kept it close so the margin never got too big, giving us a chance to steal it in the end. We’re not an offensive juggernaut. We’re not cut out to win shootouts. If we control the pace and keep it close, we have a chance to win.” In Game 1, Alaska held San Miguel to nine points in the third period then 28 in the fourth quarter and extension.

Austria, however, isn’t buying the line that San Miguel is the favorite. “It’s always nice to be the underdog and coach Alex is a very humble guy,” he said. “But are we really favored? Didn’t they beat us in the eliminations? I may be the more experienced coach but I think in the Finals, experience is irrelevant. The team that works harder will win, experience or no experience.”

Compton, 40, said he never expected to reach the Finals in his first full conference with Alaska. “We didn’t really set a goal of making it to the Finals or winning the championship before the conference started,” he said. “I realize goal-setting is important but in the PBA, there are no guarantees because of the high level of competition. All we set out to do is to get better every game. It’s all about effort. Now that we’re in the Finals, I don’t think being content is an issue. Our guys play hard, you saw how they hustled in the Rain Or Shine series. We want to cultivate a culture of always being super-competitive, whether at practice or in the weight room or during a game.”

Austria, 56, said the Beermen got a boost from San Miguel Corp. president Ramon Ang who hosted a lunch in their honor last Jan. 2. “There are high expectations on our team,” he said. “We’re lucky that we have strong players to surround JuneMar. Alex is a big factor and has adjusted very quickly to our system. We’ve got Alex, Arwind and two other shooters to back up JuneMar so Alaska just won’t be able to double JuneMar. Our depth gives us the ability to do situational substitutions like Chris (Ross) for defense and Alex for offense at point guard.”

Compton said he met with Alaska team owner Fred Uytengsu and Aces manager Dickie Bachmann early this week. “Mr. Uytengsu reminded me to stay focused on basketball because in the Finals, there are so many distractions,” said Compton. “He shared words of wisdom. Dickie does a great job of managing the team so that leaves me to concentrate fully on basketball.”

Austria said his biggest headache in the Finals is Calvin Abueva. “He is so unpredictable, so hard to defend,” said Austria. “Calvin’s motor is incredible. He energizes his team. You don’t know what he’s going to do. He’s always on attack mode. If he takes a shot and misses, he still gets the offensive rebound. He’s all over the place. He has strength and power. He’s too quick for a big guy to defend. Calvin’s young and he wants to prove he’s a better player than anyone. I admire his passion for the game.”

Compton said his two headaches are Fajardo and his supporting cast. “It’s no easy task to limit JuneMar,” he said. “He’s so dominant. He’s young but plays mature, he’s big but coordinated and plays both ends. Our other problem is the offensive weapons around JuneMar. Will I zone? We’re not going to do anything different in the Finals, no radical change because we won’t be able to work on it at practice. This conference, we used the zone only about five percent of the time. We’re not a zone playing team. We’re not going to hold guys accountable for something they’re not used to doing.”

Austria said he can’t take credit for what the Beermen did in blanking Talk ‘N’ Text in the semifinals. “I was shocked that we won, 4-0,” he said. “I thought Talk ‘N’ Text was the No. 1 contender. In fact, I didn’t want to play them in the semis. But our guys wanted to win badly, they found ways to win. My job as coach has always been troubleshooting. When I coached Shell and Adamson, I took over teams that had internal problems with players fighting nearly every practice. I coached undeveloped teams. In the PBL, our players Romel Adducul, Eddie Laure and Marc Pingris made it easy for us to sweep the Finals. In the ABL, we also won with strong players in San Miguel. Now, my role is to maximize the high potential of our players. I hope to guide them to succeed. There is no resistance, no complaint, no question as far as my system is concerned. I know our team will go far because of our unity.”