IT SEEMS like San Miguel hasn't skipped a beat.
The Beermen showed little rust from a three-week layoff, manhandling hard-luck Blackwater, 118-93, Saturday in the former's PBA Governors Cup debut at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
Picking up from where they left off in its Commissioner's Cup title conquest over TNT that ended last July 2, SMB unleashed one scoring run after another while holding steady on the other end to deal Blackwater a third loss in as many games.
Winning coach Leo Austria was visibly pleased with the way his team maintained its razor-sharp form.
"I think it is our best start (in a conference) since winning a championship, eh," noted Austria, who is looking to steer SMB to a season sweep.
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"Usually kasi nag-i-struggle kami in our opening game, but this time hindi," Austria went on, before adding the real test for his Beermen should come in their next two games that will see them taking on their victim in the Commissioner's Cup finals, TNT on Wednesday and Star on Friday.
"Based on nakita ko sa mga laro nila so far, parehong malalakas and I just hope makasabay man lang kami sa kanila," said Austria.
The Elite were only in it in the opening minutes, their overall inability to consistently find holes in the Beermen's defense compounded by import Trevis Simpson aggravating his groin injury right in the first half.
Team and league officials determined that the strained muscle Simpson suffered in the course of the game against Star last Sunday has now been torn, forcing him miss the entire second half after going scoreless on just three tries in the first half.
The Elite are now forced to look for a replacement who could be flown in in time for their next game against Rain or Shine on Sunday.
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Without its main go-to guy, who averaged 24.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in two games, Blackwater floundered and fell behind by as many as 38 points twice, the last at 108-70.
Even if Simpson was there, it seems highly unlikely the Elite could have turned the tide against the Beermen's well-oiled machine.
Wendell McKines notched 19 points, 15 rebounds and five assists before sitting out the final quarter. Marcio Lassiter also scored 19 points anchored on five triples and June Mar Fajardo added 18 and eight boards.
Gabby Espinas' 16 points and Arwind Santos' 12 led the SMB relievers.
Mike Digregorio's 18 points led Blackwater, which also drew 14 points apiece from JP Erram and Roi Sumang. Erram also had 15 rebounds while Mac Belo marked his first game back from a knee injury with 13 points in an off-the-bench role.
Blackwater simply had no answer for SMB's juggernaut, which went full throttle as the game wore on, proof of which is a rare triple by Fajardo which gave the Beermen a 94-57 spread at the end of the third period.
Finally seeing action after being acquired in antrade with TNT midway of the last conference, Matthew Ganuelas-Rosser had back-to-back baskets halfway through the fourth canto to give SMB its biggest lead at 106-68 and 108-70.
The tone has been set right in the first two quarters.
All of SMB's starters, except Chris Ross, has scored by the first half with McKines and Fajardo each having 11 points and taking turns leading the Beermen's charge to as much as a 59-36 lead at the turn.
Like Santos, who came off the bench for nine points in the first 24 minutes of play, Brian Heruela also did his part with seven markers and two steals in the first seven minutes of the second period that helped SMB pull away from 27-19.
Blackwater actually scored the game's first points but first got left in the wake of a 13-0 surge by SMB. Before long, the Elite found themselves trailing by 10 points twice but
totally lost grip of the game on another 9-0 run by the Beermen from a 27-21 count.
