Mendoza: SMB in line for the Slam—again

SAN Miguel Beer (SMB) has won the PBA Philippinie Cup crown five straight years from 2015 to 2019.

That’s a record too hard to surpass now, let alone equal.

It’s like what Manny Pacquiao had monumentally achieved: Eight world boxing titles in eight different weight divisions. No one has ever accomplished that.

To pocket its latest title, SMB leaned heavily on June Mar Fajardo, the 6-foot-11 do-it-all machine with a knack for gobbling up rebounds a la vacuum cleaner.

In Game 7 of the just-ended SMB-Magnolia championship series, the Beermen survived a measly five-point output in the second quarter and next wiped out a 17-point deficit in the third quarter to escape with a 72-71 thriller behind Alex Cabagnot’s twisting jumper.

And Fajardo did his usual share in the win: Rule the glass.

Although he ended up with “only” 17 points from his usual clip of 30-plus points per game, he overshadowed that with his record 31 rebounds—breaking the 29 posted in 1975 by Marcelo Simbulan.

No surprise then that Fajardo won a fifth Finals MVP plum.

Magnolia muffed several chances at snatching victory.

But miscues hobbled the Hotshots. The most hurtful was when Gio Jalalon missed the potential game-winner from point-blank range with ticks left.

Fajardo would grab Jalalon’s miss for his 31st board and got fouled.

But Magnolia still had a chance when Fajardo missed his two charities, with Paul Lee securing the rebound with 4.8 ticks remaining.

But a double-teaming Arwind Santos disrupted Lee’s attempt for a breakaway, go-ahead shot.

Santos’s sneak swipe from behind forced Lee to fumble, and got stalled near the timeline as the clock expired.

With SMB’s victory automatically comes talk of the Beermen’s chance, again, at winning the elusive Grand Slam.

The closest they came to completing the Slam was just two years back, when they won the first two conferences in 2017 (All Filipino and Commissioner’s Cup), only to be denied when they bowed out in the season-ending Governors’ Cup.

For sure, SMB will go for it. Again.

Dreams are forever.

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