Amid whispers of teams supposedly losing (or at least trying) on purpose to get favorable matchups come playoff time, the San Miguel Beermen appear to be more than willing to take on all comers.
For coach Leo Austria, in particular, he’d rather that his Beermen focus on fostering a winning attitude while showing the utmost respect for hoops.
“We don’t want to develop that kind of habit. Namimili ka ng kalaban. Because what I’ve told the team is, let us respect the game,” Austria said after San Miguel beat the Phoenix Fuel Masters to end the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at 7-5.
Winning Attitude Above All Else for San Miguel
At that point, the quarterfinal pairings for the PBA Commissioner’s Cup hadn’t been set just yet, as the final seedings were determined only a day after the Beermen sealed their third straight win to end the eliminations. The win was on-brand for Austria, who has been preaching about maintaining a winning culture within San Miguel.
“Let us be consistent on winning attitude. And that’s what happened. Dahil until now, hindi mo pa rin alam sino kalaban mo,” Austria added. “Bahala na sila na mag-adjust kung sino makakalaban nila basta kami, our focus is on the game.”
Now, the quarters pairings are set, and everyone knows who is facing whom. In San Miguel’s case, it will be the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, who raced out to a 7-0 record to start the conference but fell to No. 3 after a 2-3 finish. Taking cue from Austria’s fighting words, it will be up to Yeng Guiao and his wards to adjust to the Beermen, who appear to be rounding into championship form with Bennie Boatwright fixing the team’s early-tournament import woes.
With San Miguel focused and apparently in form, don’t be surprised if Austria and his boys pass their first test—and possibly even more.
