Racela bailed the Beermen out just when the squad was ready to blow what had been a 15-point lead entering the final 10 minutes, and the league’s oldest player at 40 has given San Miguel the tie very few thought could still be possible.
“You know Olsen, you can always count on him in situations like that,” San Miguel coach Ato Agustin, who has given the team’s veterans a new lease on their careers since taking over, told scribes in Filipino with the sweat-drenched 18-year veteran sitting beside him.
“Whenever I need help, my captain always delivers.” “I still want one more, coach,” Racela told Agustin, after the coach had pointed out that Racela’s experience in winning nine championships could prove vital in a series this close.
“Now we know how to beat them,” Racela said. It took us two games to figure it out and we just have to sustain it. The experience factor will come in with the series now tied.”
Danny Ildefonso, the former two-time MVP who was in and out of the injured list for the past two years, also delivered big time and finished with 17 points and eight rebounds as San Miguel won a second straight game and put more pressure on the Tropang Texters.
Jay Washington, crowned before tip-off as the Best Player of the Conference, paced the Beermen with 25 points in 41 minutes but seemed to have tired out in the stretch as the Texters tied the game at 85 from 61-76 after a 24-9 burst.
Talk ‘N Text rallied and rallied hard in the fourth period, getting the goods – again – from Jason Castro and almost pulling it out.
It also took two crucial Arwind Santos errors for San Miguel for the Texters to tie the score at 85 after a Larry Fonacier split from the line with 1:13 remaining, only for Racela to foil what would have been a 3-1 series lead for the Texters.
Santos committed two silly passing errors, the last a foolish pass to Racela in an inbound play when Racela clearly had no room to receive the ball, resulting in that Fonacier charity that hushed a huge Big Dome crowd.
Alex Cabagnot shattered that tie with a key hole jumper off a broken play for the Beermen with 57.7 seconds remaining before Santos made up for those blunders by picking a pass by Jimmy Alapag to Ranidel de Ocampo which led to the first two of those Racela free throws for 89-85, 52.3 left.
Racela hit two more after Harvey Carey sliced the Texters deficit to two with a follow-up of a De Ocampo miss, getting fouled by Castro after lunging at the loose ball to gain possession for the Beermen with seven-tenths of a second remaining.
“It’s obvious the last two games that they’ve really gotten our number,” Talk ‘N Text coach Chot Reyes said in agreeing to Racela’s observation. “It’s up to us to find a way to score against their defense.” San Miguel came out hard and built leads of as big as 17 points in the second period, flaunting complete command until the first two minutes of the fourth when the Beermen suddenly became tentative.
The Beermen hounded Jimmy Alapag no end to disrupt the Talk ‘N Text offense and Alapag was held scoreless in the first half on two forced attempts.
Alapag finished with just nine points as De Ocampo led the Texters with 19 and Harvey Carey chipping in 16 that went with 15 rebounds.
Castro, the main reason why Talk ‘N Text won the first two games handily, scored all but two of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, with his last basket, a triple with 1:49 remaining, shoving the Texters to within 83-85.
