MANILA, January 26 ------ The PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals opened with a bang as all squads went all out in their respective matches, but both Ginebra and Phoenix Super LPG lacked the correct plays in the home stretch to edge their rivals. San Miguel and Magnolia ended with a 1-to-love lead on Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, but this does not mean they are disheartened, at least for Gin Kings coach Tim Cone.
"We just got to pay a little bit more attention to detail if we're gonna try to find a way to beat this team. Good team. Tough. They've got a lot of different kinds of weapons. They've got their own version of Death 5," said Cone, also the PBA's winningest coach. "We tried to stay with them. We stayed with them but they made the plays down the stretch and we didn't make the plays down the stretch," Cone added.
Games will be harder from now on, Magnolia coach Chito Victolero acknowledged, as he gave respect to the resilient Fuel Masters. "Alam namin na walang magiging madali sa series na ito at lalong magiging mahirap sa mga susunod na games," Victolero said after a notching a 82-79 Game 1 win. "We just need to limit his activity on the floor, limit his offensive rebounding and contribution on the offensive end," he added, speaking on how they kept Johnathan Williams in check in the opener at the Araneta Coliseum.
Phoenix will need to shut down import Tyler Bey, just like the Hotshots did to Williams, who was held to only 11 points on 4-11 shooting but has been averaging 26.3 points per game since the quarterfinals. "We just won a game so obviously they're gonna do all they can to win the next one," Bey said who had a 23-point, 10-rebound output in that match.
Tip-off is at 4 p.m. for the SMB-Ginebra encounter, while Phoenix will try to equalize with Magnolia to conclude the double-header today at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
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