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MANILA, Philippines—With two vital cogs serving one-game suspensions, San Miguel needs to dig deep to score a second straight victory over Barangay Ginebra today in Game 3 of their Motolite PBA Fiesta Cup title series at the Araneta Coliseum.
An impressive 95-78 winner in Game 2 last Friday, the Beermen found themselves slight underdogs in the 6 p.m. match that will break their 1-1 tie after an unexpected ban on Danny Ildefonso and Marc Pingris.
The two hard-nosed defenders, who combined for 20 points in SMB’s series-tying victory, went after a heckling Ginebra fan after the game before they were restrained by cooler heads.
Although they later apologized, commissioner Sonny Barrios barred them from playing today on top of a P30,000 fine for Ildefonso and P10,000 for Pingris.
Before the league came down hard on the two, the Gin Kings were looking forward to another grind and hoping to be rewarded for all the blue collar things that they do.
“Our mind-set will still be the same, and that is to grind it out every game,” Ginebra coach Jong Uichico told scribes Friday.
“As long as we stay within striking distance, we have a good chance. I just hope we get rewarded for all our hard work.”
“They (Beermen) came out to play today,” Uichico added. “Not like the other day (in Game 1) when they probably took us for granted. But we don’t expect every game to be the same (as Game 1).
“We have to work hard for it (victory) and, as I said, stay within striking distance, because we’re talking about San Miguel, the most talented team in the league.”
“It was a close game more than the score showed,” San Miguel’s Siot Tanquingcen said. “I think the players just came out more mentally prepared and our defense was able to slow them down. I guess it was also their off night.”
Tanquingcen also used the Ildefonso-Pingris incident as an example for his wards to come even more prepared, because it’s a given, he said, “they (Kings) will have the crowd and they are going to get some breaks.”
