San Miguel Beer made a statement in the opener of the 2017 PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven finals, jumping out of the starting block and roaring all the way to a 109-82 rout of Barangay Ginebra at the MOA Arena in Pasay City Wednesday.
With a longer rest than Ginebra from their Final Four grinds, the Beermen made a conscious effort to push the tempo from the get-go, and got their desired results.
SMB starters June Mar Fajardo, Chris Ross, Arwind Santos, Alex Cabagnot and Marcio Lassiter smothered badly their Ginebra counterparts in the opening minutes and set the tone of the match early.
With the SMB reserves also coming out smoking, the Beermen hardly allowed the Kings to get into the game and also kept the Ginebra throngs from getting involved in the duel.
What was an expected battle turned to a rout.
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“We knew they just had one practice going to this game. One-day preparation is tough. We jumped on them and made a statement early in the game,” said Ross.
After taking an early 27-point bulge before closing the half at 60-39, the Beermen hardly slowed down and went on to deal the Kings their third biggest loss in PBA finals and coach Tim Cone his worst finals defeat in almost 20 years.
For all intents and purposes, Game One was all over after the first three quarters with San Miguel leading by 33 points at 89-56.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone opted to rest his top guns in the final quarter as they were visibly reeling from fatigue from the semis series versus Star.
SMB coach Leo Austria said they have to be ready for a Ginebra fightback in Game Two set at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena.
Cabagnot, Ross and Fajardo collected double-digit outputs right in the first half in their early explosions powering SMB to a 21-point lead at the half.
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It was the most lopsided first half in PBA finals opener since Alaska enjoyed a 46-24 halftime lead over Ginebra in the 2013 Commissioner’s Cup.
Ross and Fajardo finished with 17 points apiece, Cabagnot and Gabby Espinas wound up with 16 each while Ronald Tubid came through with 11 markers.
The powerhouse SMB starting unit clobbered its Ginebra counterpart, 45-9, in the first half, and they got welcome breather in the second half.
Ginebra starters LA Tenorio, Japeth Aguilar, Joe Devance, Sol Mercado and Aljun Mariano all came out flat. The Kings got some points on the board in the second period from second stringers Mark Caguioa, Jervy Cruz and Chris Ellis with 10, eight and seven points, respectively.
Cabagnot, Lassiter and Santos drained all their first four three-point shots while Fajardo converted his first pair of free throws and first post attack in a hot 17-2 opening attack in the first four minutes of the contest.
Ginebra called two early timeouts but failed to stop San Miguel’s jackrabbit start.
