IT began with Chot Reyes getting felled by Covid-19.
It ended with June Mar Fajardo finding the hole with an unlikely three-point shot.
That pretty much sums up San Miguel Beer’s bristling 119-97 victory over a thoroughly outclassed TNT for the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup before a Sunday crowd of 15,951 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
But that’s not all as the Beermen’s 4-3 title-clincher was reeking with drama—and trauma.
With TNT’s head coach already out of commission in the most crucial part of the pulsating series that went the maximum, the Tropang Giga would suffer more agony with the Game 7 decider not even half-done.
At the 55.1-second mark of the second quarter, TNT’s 6-foot-8 Poy Erram did the most stupid thing a key cog could ever do: Hammer a player deliberately to the head in full view of an enthralled audience that included three Senators of the republic headed by Sen. Bong Go.
Mo Tautuaa, the 6-foot-8 SMB forward, was already sure of stuffing the ball when Erram did the despicable act of going for Mo’s head instead of the leather.
Just as quickly as it happened, the referees slapped Erram a Flagrant 2 foul for an automatic ejection.
Tautuaa lay on the floor writhing in pain while cupping his head as Erram was escorted out of the court—the TNT slot man’s unsportsmanlike conduct producing a ghastly cut that necessitated a huge bandage wrapped around Mo’s head the rest of the game.
Bucking pain and avoiding the rule of having to leave the game for good had he left for the lockers outright, Tautuaa heroically stood on the line and buried two free throws that gave SMB a commanding 13-point, 65-52 lead en route to a 66-55 halftime bulge.
Reyes out of the picture is already tantamount to TNT having one foot in the grave. His son, Josh, subbing for him, did all he could but then, how can a virtual rookie, one still genuinely wet behind the ears, topple a foe so rich in talent like SMB?
Thus, after TNT had taken an 89-84 third quarter lead, that proved to be the team’s last fling with glory.
A blistering 17-0 Beermen blast opening the final frame all but erased all illusions of TNT’S title-retention bid as SMB built a 101-89 margin at the 7:20.1 mark.
It was practically over from there as the only answer from the Tropang Giga was a puny 5-3 count behind Jayson Castro’s five-point cluster.
Now seething with vengeance after losing Game 7 to TNT in this conference’s Finals in last year’s “Bacolor Bubble” in Pampanga, SMB dropped all bombs at its disposal in a blazing 12-0 assault to put the game beyond reach, 116-94, with only under three minutes left.
With TNT left licking its wounds, the 6-foot-10 Fajardo put the so-called icing on the cake with a triple of his own from far left, 119-94, with barely two minutes left—sending the fans roaring on their feet. It was Fajardo’s first ever three-pointer since joining the PBA exactly 10 years ago.
At 32, Fajardo is still learning new tricks? OMG!
THAT’S IT Nice to hear San Miguel’s top guns—sports director Alfrancis Chua, governor Robert Non and coach Leo Austria—heap profuse praise on Ramon S. Ang (RSA) after SMB’s rousing victory three days back. RSA, the CE0/President of San Miguel Corp., is widely known for his hands-on involvement in his PBA teams SMB, Magnolia and Barangay Ginebra, endearing him to his players, coaches and other officials of note for his personalized style of leadership. Cheers!