Combatants for the vacant Season 48 PBA Commissioner’s Cup crown brace for a tight battle that could go all the way to a deciding seventh game.
Magnolia executive Rene Pardo even expressed confidence the Hotshots will emerge standing when the dust settles and hoisting the trophy for the first time since the 2018 Governors’ Cup.
“This will be a good series and my expectation is we will win in seven games, 4-3. ” Pardo said during Thursday’s press conference for the Magnolia-SMB finale. “Sana magkatoo”
Pardo draws confidence from the Hotshots’ consistently strong performance not only in the preliminaries, where they took the No. 1 seeding with 9-2, but also to the pre-season PBA On Tour, where they posted a clean 11-0 mark.
“Before the start of the season, I was asked who the team to beat was. Coming off 11-0 in On Tour, ipokrito naman ako if I wouldn’t choose my team. At the beginning my marching orders to Coach Chito (Victolero) is finals or championship, nothing else,” he said.
SMB counterpart Robert Non was as optimistic about the title chances of his team, which he preferred to call “one united squad” instead of “Death 15.”
“No. 2 (seeds) tayo pero pwede namang talunin ng 2 iyung 1,” Non said, smiling “Mahirap i-predict sino mananalo, it’s (San Miguel’s) offense versus (Magnolia’s) defense and I hope San Miguel gets to play defense also to win this.”
Non gave props to the Beermen’s familial bond, which will serve them well in this confrontation.
“Tinatawag nila na ‘Death Squad,’ wala na iyon eh. Ako tatawagin ko silang ‘One United Squad” kasi they like to play for each other. Tingin nila sa co-players nila kasama na sa pamilya. One big happy family of San Miguel,” said Non, who bared that the squad is dedicating this campaign to the late San Miguel Brewery president Bobby Huang, who passed away last November.
“It will be a good series, kahit mag-Game 7, kahit tumagal, okay lang, basta kami mag-champion,” he said.
PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial is similarly excited for the titanic showdown between the franchises with the most finals appearances – SMB with 28 and Magnolia with 14 – and an offensive juggernaut (SMB) versus a defensive machine (Magnolia).
“Magandang bakbakan ito. Parehong gutom. Tingin ko kung sino ang mas gutom ito ang mananalo,” said Marcial. (OL)
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