There’s no question that June Mar Fajardo and the San Miguel Beermen are the barometers of teams looking to win the PBA Philippine Cup.
The 6-foot-10 Fajardo remains as the league’s most dominant force and surrounding him with dependable veteran players like CJ Perez, Marcio Lassiter, Mo Tautuaa, Don Trollano, Jericho Cruz and Jeron Teng truly makes the Beermen the team to beat.
But San Miguel also has its eyes set on another squad which it also considers to be the yardstick when it comes to winning the most prestigious tournament in the PBA — Tim Cone and his Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings.
The Beermen are doing it for a better reason as Cone is the winningest coach in PBA history coaching the league’s most popular team which not only became fan favorites, but also emerged as a formidable team through the years when it started building up in the post Mark Caguioa and Jayjay Helterbrand era.
San Miguel’s 104-93 win over Ginebra on Friday could be a good way to measure the Beermen’s chances of reclaiming the Philippine Cup, but they believe that winning a championship can be proven by constant improvement.
“It’s not really to show them that we are the barometer of the PBA or the All-Filipino,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria. “It’s about improving every game, every practice. Against Ginebra, we showed a lot of improvement and we want to be consistent on that.”
Austria and his troops have something to prove this year, especially after losing the Philippine Cup last season to the Meralco Bolts and they are eager to bounce back.
The winningest franchise in PBA history takes pride of restoring that legacy with a championship in the season-ending conference, but the team believes it’s still a long way to go.
Perez believes the early loss to Magnolia was a wake up call.
“Natalo kami sa Magnolia and then tinalo namin yung Ginebra, pero ang susunod namin TNT,” added Perez. “We need to be ready at hindi namin kailangang mag-relax. Every All-Filipino, inaasahan nila San Miguel. But basketball is different now. We just have June Mar kaya parati kaming contender, pero it’s all about camaraderie and team chemistry and which team will be able to show that will win.”
