AFTER doing a Lazarus last Monday night, Converge will show up tonight bristling with confidence and a big belief it can topple a powerhouse foe like the San Miguel Beermen.
FiberXers interim coach Franco Atienza, however, is not biting.
“We have to be ready with a San Miguel team who is galit, who is hungry and willing to get back from this loss,” Atienza said.
“But we will take this. It’s a testament of hope and grit. Hopefully, we grind up another one, then we’ll see,” he added.
Fighting for dear life anew, Converge takes on SMB in Game 4 of their best-of-5 quarterfinals showdown in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.
The match is set at 7:30 p.m.
The Beermen appeared poised to complete a 3-0 series sweep after taking a 27-point third-quarter lead in Game 3, only for Atienza’s charges to raze the deficit and score a dramatic 114-112 decision on a buzzer-beating jumper by guard Alec Stockton.
A do-or-die Game 5, if necessary, will be played on Sunday, Oct. 6, at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
The winner of the race-to-3 duel will face Ginebra in a best-of-7 semifinals clash beginning Wednesday next week at a venue yet to be announced.
Atienza will bank anew on Stockton, import Jalen Jones, Justin Arana, Schonny Winston, and Bryan Santos.
The youthful tactician is bracing for an expected thundering fightback from the shattered SMB side but remains unfazed.
“We might win it, we might lose but give us that chance na either we win it by playing defense, or we win it by shooting the basket. But we wanna get there,” Atienza said. “We know that’s tough and maybe that’s the closest we can go sa ganitong elite teams like San Miguel.
“The toss coin chance at the end of the game, kumbaga one play left in the game, 50-50.”
The likes of reigning eight-time MVP June Mar Fajardo, reinforcement EJ Anosike, CJ Perez, Terrence Romeo, Don Trollano, and Marcio Lassiter will be counted by the Beermen in their bid to redeem themselves from the stunning setback.
But Stockton is convinced his team is far from done.
“We just didn’t give up. No matter what was thrown our way, we were down 0-2, we were down 19 or 20, we just kept fighting back. We just rode that,” he said.
Every cage aficionado knows this should be SMB’s series–the Beermen are too deep and too strong for the FiberXers who are only in their second year in the pro league. But that’s the beauty of the sport–the game is played on the hard court.
