[oxygen] What did San Miguel do right to bag their first win of the season? What were the things that needed more improvement? Let’s take a look at the positives and negatives of their victory last night. So it has begun. San Miguel’s road to redemption started on a winning start as they eked out an 87-79 victory against Rain Or Shine last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. With a well-balanced attack, the Beermen gave the debuting Leo Austria his first win in his return as a PBA head coach. Despite being plagued with early foul trouble in the first half, reigning MVP June Mar went on a tear and scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half to lead the Beermen in their first win in the All Filipino Cup. Former MVP Arwind Santos carried the cudgels and kept them on the driver’s seat while Fajardo was sitting on the bench in the early goings of the game and had a double-double of his own with 16 points and 12 rebounds while the Gilas 1.0 duo of Marcio Lassiter and Chris Lutz combined for 24 points. POSITIVES: 1. BALANCED ATTACK – It was a breath of fresh air to see other players other than June Mar Fajardo doing the damage for San Miguel. Last night, the balance was there as Santos, Lassiter and Lutz contributed well to ease the pressure off of Fajardo and kept Rain Or Shine’s defense guessing. Even relievers like Paulo Hubalde and Doug Kramer also did some damage in their stints on the floor. 2. COACH LEO’S SUBSTITUTION PATTERN – Whether it was because of Fajardo’s early foul trouble or not, Leo Austria did well in his rotation. Last season, the main problem of the team was the heavy minutes of the starters, Fajardo particulary, that often lead to them being gassed out in the fourth quarter. Austria was able to distribute the minutes and made good use of his bench last night. 3. ARWIND WAS ON HIS ELEMENTS – Yes, you read that right. While San Miguel is clearly June Mar’s team right now, Arwind will also be a factor in their success this season. As Fajardo was on the bench with foul trouble in the first half, it was the former MVP who led the Beermen when he made key baskets to keep them afloat and put Rain Or Shine at bay. Consistency has been Santos’ main problem in the past seasons and it remains to be seen if he can keep his impressive start all conference long but it seems like Coach Leo knows how to use the lanky forward well. 4. END GAME COMPOSURE – If this was last season, San Miguel would have lost this game. But last night was totally different. As Rain Or Shine kept on knocking on their door in the payoff period, the Beermen sticked to their game plan and executed their plays very well. The Chris Lutz lay up to put the Elastopainters for good was an evidence of how good their execution was at end game. No more rattling, no more one on one plays. That’s a good sign right? NEGATIVES: 1. POOR FREE THROWS – San Miguel missed a lot from the charity stripe last night. They shot 15 out of 27 from the 15-foot line en route to a measly 55.6 free throw percentage. The good thing was Rain Or Shine seemed to enjoy the Beermen’s free throw shooting woes and imitated it; they only made 16 of their 31 penalty shots. San Miguel needs to refine their free throw shooting as this will play a huge factor in close games. 2. SILLY FOULS – Fajardo and Lassiter was hobbled with foul trouble early on, good thing was ROS wasn’t able to get their rhythm all game long. The Beermen needs to shy away from giving ticky tacky fouls especially Fajardo who was called for three in the first half. 3. THREE POINT SHOOTING – Having the defense collapse on Fajardo in the shaded area, San Miguel needs to make their three point shots to break the game wide open. The Beermen attempted 26 treys and only made six of it. As the conference go on, their opponents will always try to clog the paint to stop June Mar do damage inside and it is a must for San Miguel to make their rainbow shots to make the defense play honest. It is too early to judge the team with their game last night but Coach Leo and his boys did well to get their first win. The next four games will be considered their break-in period. Can they keep it up? WE CERTAINLY HOPE SO. thebreweryhouse/rejuvenated-san-miguel-trumps-rain-shine/
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 05:10:43 +0000
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