ONCE again, San Miguel Beer stumbled on its road back to the top, but coach Leo Austria is confident the Beermen will ultimately find their way.
Austria is taking to heart the lessons learned from SMB’s second straight futile campaign in the PBA Philippine Cup and wants to properly prepare the team for the season’s second conference expected to start late next month.
“We’re just waiting for the announcement of the resumption of practices,” Austria told Malaya-Business Insight. “Once na nakuha namin ‘yung official word from the league, then umpisa na kami right away.”
The urgency to get the practices, especially full-contact ones, underway has additional urgency for Austria since he believes the lack of playing time his team has had together last time is the biggest factor why the Beermen got foiled in their bid reclaim the crown in the last two editions of the tournament.
“Because of the pandemic since last year pinakamahirap sa lahat mag-prepare,” explained Austria. “There were lots of uncertainties, on-and-off ang training na nangyari the last two years. So hindi ka makapaghanda ng maayos.”
Those delays also led to players not being in top condition and game-shape when the tournament got going, partly leading to injuries to players.
“Ang player kapag naglaro bigay-todo iyan and usually kasi may adrenaline pang involved,” Austria said. “Pero kapag ‘yung physical shape hindi pa fully adapted may mga consequences, usually bad. For me, kaya maraming injuries, kulang ang conditioning ng players, teams.”
Prime examples of Austria’s point were his own players in Mo Tautuaa and Terrence Romeo, who suffered injuries early in the course of SMB’s seventh and final game in the semifinals two Sundays ago against TNT.
Tautuaa saw action for only 10 minutes after feeling extreme pain on his right knee while Romeo suffered a muscle strain on his left calf that limited him to just 10 minutes as the Beermen bowed out 79-97.
The finish was slightly better than SMB’s quarterfinals exit last year and Austria vowed his team will do better in the next conference that features imports standing under 6-foot-6.
Commissioner Willie Marcial has said that teams can start practices in areas under GCQ and take the cue from Blackwater, which has set up its training camp in a resort in Laurel, Batangas.
