The moment they held aloft the PBA Commissioner's Cup crown in addition to the all-Filipino diadem they won earlier, the San Miguel Beermen have found themselves burdened with the task to chase the Triple Crown.
Yes, there's the second conference championship to celebrate, but then there would always be the thought of their transition to attain the greatest achievement of all in the local pro league - the GRAND SLAM.
That's the burden going with winning the season's first two conferences.
And there's no turning back for the Beermen. In fact, there's SMB governor Robert Non yelling the mission for everybody to hear during the awards rites shortly after the Beermen ended the Commissioner's Cup title series via a 102-90 conquest of the TNT KaTropa in Game Six before a mammoth crowd at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Friday night.
"Two-thirds of the Triple Crown has been achieved. Next is completing the grand slam," said Non.
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San Miguel coach Leo Austria admitted the grand slam talk is inevitable.
"Well, wala nang pupuntahan kami kung di doon. We're targeting another championship in the third conference and if we win that, we'll get a grand slam as a bonus. Yan ang ina-aspire ng San Miguel fans, San Miguel management and it will really be an honor kung makukuha ito," said Austria.
"But like I said, it will be really hard, we have to take it one game at a time. A lot of teams are really competitive and we're always the target of teams in the PBA," he added.
With just about everybody after their neck in the Governors' Cup, Austria said a big key would be finding an import that would fit the team.
Austria and his star-studded, talent-laden squad, winners of eight crowns in the last 14 conferences, had a previous shot at the grand slam in 2017 but their bid was foiled by the Barangay Ginebra and import Justin Brownlee in the Governors' Cup quarterfinals.
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The Beermen may have a better chance at scoring the treble this time as they could recover from the tough Commissioner's Cup grind with all the breaks the PBA takes in the Governors' Cup with all the international commitments of Gilas Pilipinas.
And Austria insists it's about finding the right import.
They were successful at that in bringing in Chris McCullough to take over from Charles Rhodes in midstream in the elims.
Still, the Beermen had to go through quite a ride in the quarters versus the NorthPort Batang Pier and in the semis against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters to make the finals versus the KaTropa.
In the finals, the Beermen dug deep in their inner resolve to overcome a Terrence Jones-led TNT side, thus, completing an arduous trek from the pit to the summit, caressing the franchise's 27th crown. (SB)
