ROSS, LASSITER RESURGENCE ADDS DEPTH TO ALREADY FORMIDABLE SMB ARSENAL

THE San Miguel-Magnolia game last Friday was a meeting between two teams that played in the Commissioner's Cup Finals, and naturally, it was the main game in the PBA Philippine Cup doubleheader at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Beermen went on a sizzling start but had to fend off a late charge by the Hotshots before prevailing, 98-91, to book win No. 8 and remain on top of the standings.

It was the first encounter between the two franchises since the Beermen won the title in six games.

  

The loss snapped the Hotshots’ four-game winning run as they fell to third spot at 5-3 in a tie with the NLEX Road Warriors.

In the curtain raiser, Meralco kept alive its quarterfinal hopes with an 82-76 win over Phoenix, but not after a huge endgame scare as main man Chris Newsome had to be carried out of the playing court following a collision with Javee Mocon.

The win put the Bolts inside the Magic Eight with a 4-5 standing, while pushing the Fuel Masters on the brink of elimination at 3-7 with their back-to-back losses in three days.

Here are takeaways from the weekend PBA twin bill

1) PBA fans are abuzz about the possibility of San Miguel scoring a sweep of the eliminations after getting Magnolia out of the way to keep its slate perfect at 8-0. The win assured the Beermen a Top 2 finish and a twice-to-beat advantage in the playoffs. The Beermen also moved just three wins away from completing an 11-game sweep of the elims. The coming week would see them play NLEX (5-3), Blackwater (3-5), and Meralco (4-5) in seven days. Of the three, NLEX and Meralco appear to be the ones with a chance to beat San Miguel. Both squads are fighting for a twice-to-beat advantage along with several other teams. Blackwater, with its record - and with nothing to lose - may pull off an upset but that is unlikely, though. Magnolia was the last team to win seven games in a row, but could only finish runner-up in the last Commissioner’s Cup. 

PHOTO: Jerome Ascano

2) Chris Ross was in scoring mode against Magnolia, hitting all of his 15 points from three-point range. He was 5-of-10 from beyond the arc, the last of which proved to be the dagger in the final 1:04 mark as it extended San Miguel’s lead to 95-89. Going into the game, the San Miguel playing deputy coach was averaging just 3.8 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 2.0 assists a game.

3) Marcio Lassiter stepped up to the plate anew by hitting 4-of-6 from three-point land to finish with 12 points. After the win, the 36-year-old gunner now has a total of 1,201 as he chases the 1,218 record of current No. 3 LA Tenorio of Barangay Ginebra in the all-time list of three-point shots made. In his last three games, Lassiter has gone 13-of-21 from beyond the arc for a high of 61 percent shooting.

4) Jason Perkins was practically missing when Phoenix absorbed its second straight loss. The top gun of the Fuel Masters was held to just five points on 2-of-8 shooting, although he grabbed seven rebounds, and dished out four assists. Perkins averaged 17.1 points in the team’s first nine outings and had 26 points and 10 rebounds in a 108-101 loss against TNT where Phoenix led by as many as 23 points. 

2024-04-27T12:14:32Z dg43tfdfdgfd