All by its lonesome with a clean slate at the top, San Miguel Beer doesn't want things change.
The reigning PBA Philippine Cup three-peat champ is determined to pile up wins, eyeing victory No. 4 as it tangles with NLEX at the Cuneta Astrodome Friday night.
"Importanteng makapuhunan ng panalo," said San Miguel coach Leo Austria looking for another win to add to earlier victories over the Phoenix Fuel Masters (104-96), the Meralco Bolts (103-97) and the TNT KaTropa Texters (88-76).
Their win over TNT was special as they got tremendous boost from players outside of their Magnificent Five of June Mar Fajardo, Arwind Santos, Marcio Lassiter, Alex Cabagnot and Chris Ross.
Reserves Brian Heruela and Matt Ganuelas-Rosser provided spark in a decisive SMB attack before Cabagnot, Santos and Lassiter returned to the floor and delivered the dagger baskets.
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Heruela and Rosser came up with crucial gutsy plays helping fuel SMB's run from 54-61 down. Rosser turned in eight points, five rebounds and three assists against his former team while Heruela added five markers, three boards and two dish-offs.
Meanwhile, NLEX coach Yeng Guiao rued their team in depending a lot on prized rookie Kiefer Ravena in their 94-105 loss to Magnolia Sunday.
If they're to be more competitive, Guiao said more players should be involved in their game.
"Kiefer played a great game offensively, but that's not our style of play. We don't want one player to take over the game offensively and try to bring us or carry us on his shoulders for us to win," said Guiao shortly after their loss to the Hotshots.
"With our system, we always won more games when more people got involved and more people scored in double figures," Guiao said. "Kiefer played a great game offensively but he did not get enough support from the rest of the team."
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Going for naught in their defeat was Ravena's 31-point explosion also spiked by five assists, four rebounds and four steals.
With little support from his teammates, the Road Warriors suffered a second straight loss after back-to-back wins over the Kia Picanto and the GlobalPort Batang Pier.
And they definitely face a tough test against the Beermen as they try to break free from a heavy logjam at fourth place with the Blackwater Elite, the Alaska Milk Aces, the Fuel Masters, the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters and the Texters at 2-2. (SB)
