San Mig Coffee finishes off Air 21

After some delay, San Mig Coffee still went on to occupy a place it is very familiar at.
Displaying a lot of championship poise when the Air21 couldn’t find the composure to play a pressure-laden rubber match on Wednesday night, the Mixers ripped the Express to smithereens, 99-83, to barge into the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals at the Araneta Coliseum.
Flaunting its meanest form in these playoffs, the Mixers destroyed the Air21 defense early by hitting their outside shots for several commanding leads in the second quarter that San Mig used to coast along and close out the series, 3-2.
It was the sixth straight victory in a KO game for the Mixers since ruling the Governors’ Cup last season, and it also kept San Mig in the running toward a third straight title for a chance to hold all three PBA championships at the same time in two different seasons.
“Our guys came to play today,” San Mig coach Tim Cone said. “It was total team effort. We were hitting shots, we were defending. Everything clicked for us tonight.”
James Yap drilled in three triples and Peter June Simon had two in the first half and the San Mig defense choked Air21’s outside gunners no end.
Those outside connections opened up the Air21 zone and allowed import James Mays to operate underneath and an effective inside-outside game for the Mixers simply proved too much for the Express to handle.
Cone, incidentally, also got his chance to improve on the all-time best record of 16 championships won by a coach. He broke out of his tie with the legendary Baby Dalupan when they won the Philippine Cup over Rain or Shine over two months ago.
“We were more ready and prepared for their zone tonight,” Cone added, referring to the defensive ploy of Air21 on Monday’s Game 4 that necessitated this KO game. “We were mentally prepared to battle their zone in this game.”
Not only did the Mixers break up the Express defense, they also locked down hard on the Air21 players that gave them a hard time just two nights before.
Wesley Witherspoon felt the brunt of the San Mig defense, which starved him to seven first half points and without a three-point conversion in the first two periods.
In Game 4, the reedy Air21 import jumpstarted the Express’ offense by hitting five triples and finishing with 21 first half points. In the rubber match, Witherspoon finished with 21, but most of them came during garbage time.
San Mig opened up several 21-point spreads late in the second quarter and were never really threatened the rest of the way as the Mixers take impressive form going into the championship series against undefeated Talk ‘N Text.
The best-of-five series for the crown starts Friday night, with the Tropang Texters, who have been cooling their heels since Friday last week after sweeping Rain or Shine, shooting to win a 14th straight game.
“That’s our problem,” Cone said of the day’s rest before they face the team that’s playing the best basketball in the lot. “This team hasn’t had a chance to rest. I know we are doing it for Gilas (Pilipinas). We’ll see.”
Mays finished with 24 points, Simon added 18 and Yap chipped in with 15 despite playing limited minutes in the second half.