Rest works to Magnolia’s advantage in avoiding 3-0 pit vs San Miguel

MANILA, Philippines – The two-day rest Magnolia had was a “key factor” for the Hotshots, head coach Chito Victolero said, as they scored a breakthrough win in Game 3 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals against San Miguel on Wednesday.

Magnolia went back to its roots and grinded out an 88-80 win over the Beermen to finally notch a win in the championship series. 

The Hotshots, last week, played three games in five days — the semifinal clash against Phoenix last January 31, and Games 1 and 2 of the finals against San Miguel on February 2 and 4, respectively. 

Wednesday’s clash came after a two-day rest.

“The key factor, I think, is the two-day rest. Our bodies had some time to recover from that two-day rest,” Victolero told reporters in Filipino after their Game 3 win. 

“We had a hard time to do our defensive scheme, because of, and I don’t want to make excuses, but they’re all humans. They get tired. But the good thing is we have that rest, and we were able to do our defensive mentality and that is to limit our opponents under 88 points,” he added. 

In Game 3, Magnolia was able to allow just four Beermen to score in double figures. 

Import Bennie Boatwright had 27 points, but he made just 10 of his 28 field goals. He also committed eight turnovers. 

CJ Perez finished with 16 points but also had a horrendous field goal shooting, making just six of his 18 attempts.

June Mar Fajardo had 11 points and 13 rebounds, and Jeron Teng added 10 points in 15 minutes off the bench. 

Chris Ross and Marcio Lassiter, who both played at least 32 minutes each, combined for just six points on 3-of-13 shooting. 

“That’s the thing. Every time they scored 100 plus points, I think they have a bigger chance of winning the game but if we limit them under 90 points, we have a bigger chance of winning,” Victolero said. 

For his part, Magnolia’s Mark Barroca acknowledged the team’s defensive identity, which was in full display Wednesday. 

“Our mentality is we had our backs against the wall. Our mindset is not to shoot and make shots. What we want is our defense [to be evident] because that is the identity of the team, defense,” Barroca told reporters in a mix of English and Filipino. 

“So we just did our best and showed our defense because that is our best offense. If we are able to make stops, we can make runs. So that also brings our offense,” he added. 

The Hotshots were able to grab the win despite having import Tyler Bey score just 11 points and haul down six rebounds — a far cry from his usual numbers of 26.6 points and 14.1 boards per game. 

“We don’t care whoever scores 20-plus points or 10 points or two points. T-Bey knows that. He knew that we need to have that defensive mentality against Boatwright, and he’s the one assigned on Boatwright,” the coach said. 

“And I think it’s all about the team effort especially on our distribution of offense and the guards and actually the whole team stepped up.” 

Game 4 will be on Friday, February 9, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.