MANILA, Philippines — A champion that’s been there, done that against a challenger hungry for its PBA milestone. An offensive juggernaut versus a defensive machine. A “retro” duel of teams from the old MICAA days.
Welcome to the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup finals between San Miguel Beer and Meralco.
“Alam namin magiging exciting ang darating na series,” SMB giant June Mar Fajardo said ahead of the Beermen’s title defense against first-time All-Filipino finalist Bolts.
Key players of San Miguel and Meralco, their respective coaches Jorge Gallent and Luigi Trillo and governors Robert Non and Bill Pamintuan and PBA commissioner Willie Marcial attended a presscon presented by Bingo Plus yesterday to talk about the explosive best-of-seven series that kicks off tomorrow at the Big Dome.
Bolts star Chris Newsome can’t express enough how honored they are to play their maiden All-Filipino final and gun for franchise history against the league’s winningest club with 29 championships at that.
“We’ve always said for us to get a championship, we have to compete against the best and that team (SMB) has proved they’re the best for quite some time,” said Newsome, who hopes to finally hoist the trophy after four previous failed bids in import-flavored conferences. “For us, it’s an honor to be here and we’re just excited to compete against the best.”
The difference in orientation between the protagonists is quite obvious.
SMB’s firepower built around top dog Fajardo, CJ Perez, Don Trollano, Marcio Lassiter, Terrence Romeo and Jericho Cruz is famously scoring 107.4 points a game. Meralco’s shot-stopping unit led by Chris Newsome, Cliff Hodge and Raymond Almazan prides itself in limiting opponents to 86.95 markers.
But that doesn’t mean the premier scorer can’t defend. Or the leading defender can’t put the ball to the hoops.
Also the hunger factor may appear stronger on a still title-less Meralco. But San Miguel is also craving for gold with a sweep of Season 48 to complement its triumph in the season-opening Commissioner’s Cup on the line.