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For many years, San Miguel Beer was the PBA’s premiere franchise, winning the league’s Grand Slam in 1989 and establishing a mini-dynasty during a stretch in the late ’90s and early 2000s.
So there were great expectations when the name was used for San Miguel Corporation’s new basketball team upon joining the ASEAN Basketball League.
“SMC winning tradition was always a motivation for us in forming and developing a team,” said team executive Noli Eala.
“It was also a lot of pressure to the coaches, team management, and players.”
The team crashed the finals of the ABL in its maiden season in the league, falling short against the Indonesia Warriors in the championship round.
“When SMB hired me to become part of the coaching staff last year, they asked me to develop a competitive team and we did that last year. Unfortunately, we did not win the championship,” said coach Leo Austria, who served as an assistant for the team last season.
The Beermen underwent a massive buildup in the offseason, with former Meralco center Asi Taulava as their biggest acquisition.
It paid dividends, as Taulava helped San Miguel Beer to a league-best 19-3 record in the regular season, highlighted by a 16-game winning streak, en route to winning Most Valuable Player honors.
San Miguel continued its dominance in the playoffs, dispatching the Sports Rev Thailand Slammers in four games in the semifinals before sweeping the Warriors in the championship round.
No easy path
But it wasn’t an easy path for the Beermen, who were affected by abrupt changes in their coaching staff after former coach Bobby Parks fell ill.
“This season, we started out training last October without coach Bobby due to his ailment and eventually, they appointed me to take over as head coach,” said Austria.
“I didn’t have a hard time adjusting to the team because I was part of it since the beginning.”
Parks passed away earlier this year, and the Beermen used his memory as a motivation for the season.
Taulava was brilliant during the postseason, carrying the Beermen on offense despite his advanced age at 40 years old.
“I’m happy to see him playing with consistency. He’s amazing because nobody is expecting that he could play that well at his age,” said Austria. “He looks like [he's in] his 20s with the way he played. His award really inspired him to work harder and his teammes really supported him.”
For Eala, winning the title meant doing justice to the San Miguel Beer name.
“Everyone understood what we had to do. Fortunately, we lived up to the tradition,” he said.
Source: Rey Joble, InterAKTV
