Ginebra won the first meeting and now look to make it 2-0 against the San Miguel Beermen. Can the Beermen fire back?

Catch the game this Sunday, September 15th, at 7:30 PM, Manila time.

San Miguel Beermen (5-2)

Projected starting five:

• Jericho Cruz
• CJ Perez
• Jordan Adams
• Marcio Lassiter
• Junemar Fajardo

The Beermen are now on a three-game winning streak. They will be coming off an absolute shootout on Friday against the Phoenix Fuel Masters, 139-127. The usual trio guys the way, but import Jordan Adams was the clear, runaway gunman, pouring in 49 points on 16-of-27 shooting, including four threes and a pair of four-pointers. 

Junemar Fajardo was awesome in his own way with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists on a perfect 11-of-11 shooting. CJ Perez showed out as well with 23 points and seven dimes. Lastly, longtime outside threat Marcio Lassiter had 16 points on a 5-of-12 clip, all of which were from threes.

Such an offensively filled performance is what SMB needs as it prepares to avenge its 108-102 loss to Ginebra last August 27th. It was a frustrating defeat as they still fell short despite hitting 54.1% from the field and hauling in 20 offensive boards.

Ultimately, though, the Beermen would need to scheme better around defensively. They surrendered a 50-piece to Justin Brownlee in the said loss and shouldn’t have given up 127 to the winless Fuel Masters.

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel (5-2)

Projected starting five:

• Scottie Thompson
• Maverick Ahanmisi
• Stephen Holt
• Justin Brownlee
• Japeth Aguilar

After a one-sided 124-102 win over the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters on Friday, Ginebra tied the TNT Tropang Giga for a current conference-best, four-game winning streak. It was a good victory as it avenged an earlier loss to ROS, also one of the top teams in the conference.

Import Justin Brownlee will be front and center as always. He is on the heels of a stat-stuffing night vs. ROS (40 pts, 10 rebs, 4 ast, 2 stls), and he did the same in the said win against SMB (51 pts, 13 rebs, 5 ast, 6 stls) two weeks back. We should see him try to feast on the Beermen’s suspect defense again.

Much like their sister team, though, the Barangay remains deep, and it’s anyone’s guess as to who will mainly back Brownlee’s onslaught. Japeth Aguilar, Stephen Holt, Scottie Thompson, Maverick Ahanmisi, and even rookie RJ Abarrientos, who’s steadily coming to his own. All can go for 20-plus points any given day.

PICKS:

Spread: San Miguel (-2)

Over/Under: Under (216)