AFTER a gig with San Miguel Beer in the East Asia Super League, Quincy Miller teams up with the Beermen in PBA Season 49 Commissioner's Cup, opening their campaign versus the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium Tuesday.
It's a third PBA tour of duty for Miller, a three-year NBA veteran, after earlier stints with the Converge FiberXers in 2022 then with the TNT Tropang Giga in 2023.
One of SMB's two imports in the EASL, Miller also renders service with the Beermen in this tourney where they try to redeem themselves from a dispatching by the Barangay Ginebra Kings in their semifinal clash in the last Governors' Cup.
Coach Jorge Gallent and his troops were booted out by coach Tim Cone and the Gin Kings in six games of a race-to-four series.
In a turnaround bid, San Miguel hopes to hit the ground running opposite a Phoenix side looking to nail a first win in three starts.
Sponsored content:
They slug it out at 7:30 p.m.
The Fuel Masters, with import 6-foot-9 import Donovan Smith, fell easy prey to the Hong Kong Eastern team, 102-87, on opening day but showed vast improvement in their next outing, barely beaten by the Meralco Bolts, 111-109.
The Bolts escaped on a go-ahead one-hander from import Akil Mitchell.
Coach Jamike Jarin's chargers struggled badly versus the guest team from Hong Kong but found their range early, exploding for 73 points in the first half versus the Bolts.
Alas, they came up short and went down to a 0-2 start in the midseason tourney.
Sponsored content:
Phoenix has been on a slump from the first conference where it finished dead last in its group with a lone win in 10 outings. San Miguel was in the same group where it finished a game behind topnotcher Rain or Shine (7-3).
The Fuel Masters are banking on Smith in their hope to contend in the Governors' Cup. (SB)
