Jericho Cruz of the San Miguel Beermen at the PBA Philippine Cup. –PBA IMAGES
San Miguel Beer has been on cruise control in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup, taking down one opponent after another on its way toward what it hopes will be a successful title defense.
Following a 98-91 victory over defensive titan Magnolia on Friday night, the Beermen have won eight consecutive games in the league's premier conference and are one win away from matching TNT's nine-game elimination round exit during the 2014 Commissioner's Cup.
But almost no one on the team is counting, according to captain Chris Ross.
“We haven’t talked about it,” the 10-time champion guard told reporters about his winning streak coming out of the Big Dome. “We’re just worried about each game. (We’re) game by game.”
“Honestly, I didn’t know we were seven to zero until one of the coaches told me. I knew we didn’t lose, but I didn’t know how many we won,” he added. “We don’t talk about the streak once, we just go out there, work hard – approaching these games the same way: if it’s a win, it’s a win.”
What Ross does know, though, is that San Miguel has become the proverbial bar against which the PBA's other 11 clubs measure themselves.
“We got the best photos ever,” he said, shaking his head. “We know we have a target on our back, so we’re just trying to get better every game, trying to play the best we can.”
Ross said San Miguel should be more wary of vanity — something that perhaps also doomed the TNT team of a decade ago, when they blew up at the worst possible time.
The Tropang Texters, then coached by Norman Black, suffered their first loss in Game 1 of the Finals. The telecommunications club won the next game but were unable to figure out the puzzle that was James Yap and Tim Cone as the series progressed.
“It’s easy to be complacent after winning so many games in a row,” Ross said.
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