After four games in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup Finals, the TNT Tropang Giga and the San Miguel Beermen find themselves in a series deadlock. The Tropang Giga prevented a dreaded 3-1 series deficit with a 100-87 win in Game 4 last Sunday. With all that said, who do you think will get the 3-2 series lead Wednesday?
Catch this game live on Wednesday, August 31 at 5:45 pm, Manila time.
TNT Tropang Giga (2-2)
Projected Starting Five:
- PG: Kib Montalbo
- SG: Mike Williams
- SF: RR Pogoy
- PF: Kelly Williams
- C: Troy Rosario
Jayson Castro is having quite a series. Arguably the best player in PBA history to have not won an MVP award, Castro dropped a game-high 26 points in Game 4, shooting an efficient 10/13 from the field. Speaking of which, RR Pogoy rebounded from a very inefficient offensive showing in Game 3 and put up 21 points on 7/16 shooting. Castro coming off the bench and maintaining that high level of play has been a tremendous boost so far for the Tropang Giga, who are ensured of having a lethal backcourt offensive weapon on the floor most of the time.
The three-headed guard attack of TNT in Pogoy, Castro, and Williams led to a massive advantage in shot attempts in Game 4, 86-59. That’s the kind of pace TNT believes is perfect for it. After all, the Tropang Giga are no. 1 overall in the PBA in pace, with a bunch of possessions used on taking shots from deep. In Game 4, TNT went 9/36 from behind the arc while San Miguel was just 4/22. That volume of shots allowed them to cancel the Beermen’s advantage in the paint, scoring 46 points inside to just 44 by SMB.
San Miguel Beermen (2-2)
Projected Starting Five:
- PG: Simon Enciso
- SG: CJ Perez
- SF: Marcio Lassiter
- PF: Rodney Brondial
- C: June Mar Fajardo
If the Beermen are going to keep on starting Simon Enciso over Chris Ross, they got to at least make sure that he wouldn’t get more shots than CJ Perez. Enciso scored 15 points in Game 4 but was only 6/15 from the field, including a horrible 2/10 from deep. Perez, on the other hand, was just 4/11 for 13 points. You would have to go all the way back to an early July SMB meeting with the NorthPort Batang Pier to check out the last time Perez had 11 or fewer shot attempts in a game.
June Mar Fajardo is a constant for the Beermen, and he’ll aways be an unstoppable on the floor, but the Beermen’s success also largely hinges on how the guys around him will fare in the other times that the six-time MVP doesn’t have the ball or is not on the floor. If anything, the Beermen have not lost consecutive games yet this conference, so that’s something to make San Miguel fans encouraged of the their team’s chances to regain the series lead.
PREDICTION:
Spread: San Miguel (-3.5) covers.
Over/Under: The Over (194.5) hits.
