Alex Compton refuses to reveal reason behind timeouts to open Game 7

Alaska Aces' three straight timeouts just after tip-off on Wednesday night's Game Seven bewildered fans at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Alaska head coach Alex Compton did not go into the details of the decision when he was asked about his move, as the players were observed to have simply warmed up in the sidelines during the break.

Compton then pulled out another surprise when he sent out Calvin Abueva, Vic Manuel, Sonny Thoss, and RJ Jazul to replace four of his starters - Dondon Hontiveros, Sam Eman, Rome dela Rosa, and Eric Menk, leaving only Cyrus Baguio.

"I just didn't feel like playing yet," the coach said after his team lost 96-89 in the series.

With San Miguel winning three straight games to force a Game Seven, the Alaska coaching staff had their hands full thinking of ways to win against the Beermen.

"One of the things we thought of was, how do we make San Miguel play Alaska basketball?" Compton said. "I'll leave it at that and let you guys speculate."

San Miguel head coach Leo Austria, meanwhile, guessed that Alaska probably wanted to disrupt their game plan.

"It's a championship and we don't want to make major changes sa game plan namin," he said. "Nagulat din kami, di lang once but three times. Maybe it cost them kasi in the end game nawalan sila ng timeout." — BAP, GMA News