The San Miguel Beermen forced a Game 7 in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup with a 114-96 win against the TNT Tropang Giga last Friday. We are now down to the final game of the series. Who takes the trophy home? 

Catch this game live on Sunday, September 4 at 6 pm, Manila time.

TNT Tropang Giga (3-3)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG: Kib Montalbo
  • SG: Mikey Williams
  • SF: RR Pogoy
  • PF: Kelly Williams
  • C: Troy Rosario

Jayson Castro missed Game 6 with a hurting ankle, but he is not ruling out his availability to play in Game 7. Castro will not be 100% whether he plays or not this Sunday, but TNT is still a much better team when he’s around than when he’s not. 

Mikey Williams suited up in Game 6 but was a huge disappointment for the Tropang Giga as he scored just 2 points on an atrocious 1/13 shooting from the floor. Williams will deliver more often than not and positive regression can be expected by the Tropang Giga from him this Sunday. 

Plus  RR Pogoy has seemingly recaptured his touch again after going off for 31 points on 9/21 shooting in Game 6. Simon Encisco embarrassed TNT’s perimeter defense with an anomalous performance on Friday. While he can definitely shoot it, it’s unlikely he’ll get that hot again in Game 7.

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San Miguel Beermen (3-3)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG: Chris Ross
  • SG: CJ Perez
  • SF: Marcio Lassiter
  • PF: Rodney Brondial
  • C: June Mar Fajardo

As mentioned earlier, Encisco blasted TNT with a torrid outside shooting in Game 6, scoring 29 points on the strength of six triples. Marcio Lassiter also erupted for 22 points on 6/7 shooting from deep. Overall, San Miguel had 16 threes to just 8 by TNT. It’s the first time in the series that the Beermen were able to outshoot TNT from behind the arc. 

June Mar Fajardo didn’t have to turn into a mythical creature in order to pull the Beermen to a win, as he had a relatively pedestrian double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds. Outside of Encisco, the guns who stepped up in Game 6 were all the usual killers for San Miguel, including Jaymar Perez who broke out of his slump by scoring 20 points on 7/13 shooting with three 3-pointers. 

The Beermen recovered their moxie in time and that’s without putting Fajardo at greater risk of fatigue, thanks to the blowout nature of Game 5. The Beermen also showed their dominance in the paint in the series, something that can be expected to continue in Game 7.

PREDICTION:

Spread: The Beermen (-4.5) cover. 

Over/Under: The Over (193.0) hits.

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