PBA: How the San Mig Coffee Mixers clinched a third straight title

Unlike their previous wins, there was nothing super about the way the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers started game four. The Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters returned to the lethal form they showed a month ago and refused to let their 13-0 record fade into meaninglessness. But at the end of the night, the Mixers had the final say and took home their third straight championship. Here are a few factors that came into play:

The San Mig rookies stepped up

To say that the Mixers struggled in the first quarter would be an understatement. They looked terrible. Tim Cone yanked his starters and gave his bench an early crack, and they went on to score the only four field goals of the period. Those buckets came from first year players Ian Sangalang and Justin Melton.

We all knew that Sangalang would be good. He’s a power forward (alongside imports) with good height and reach, and a solid set of offensive fundamentals, but doesn’t quite have the anticipation or strength to be a consistent defensive factor. He was a great backup who fit nicely early on as Marc Pingris’ reliever, good for maybe eight points and a handful of rebounds on any given night.

But quietly, these playoffs have been his coming out party in the pros. He took greater responsibilities when Pingris suffered a bruised rib in the semis. He kept the Mixers chugging through the first 17 minutes of game four, tiding them over until everybody else felt like playing. He was taking smart shots, cutting to his best spots and spinning in the right direction to get a clean look. And the moment you realize that he’s only 22-years-old, you also realize that his only weakness coming into the draft was that he was five inches shorter than Greg Slaughter.

And right there with him was Justin Melton. Nobody knew him before the draft, and today everybody knows him for his dunks. Melton isn’t just a dunker, but his dunks say everything about his game. This guy doesn’t know fear, whether it’s challenging giants at the rim or challenging Jimmy Alapag or Jayson Castro on either side of the ball. I can’t recall another player who channels this much intensity while playing his role, and right now Melton’s small feet are filling in shoes of a much bigger size.

Talk ‘N Text crumbled in the last 18 minutes

Losing this championship doesn’t take anything away from the fantastic run that the Texters had this conference. They were head-and-shoulders above their competition for 13 games, and last night they showed the league why. They made quick decisions with the ball and found the open man whether it was Richard Howell on the block, Kelly Williams from 20 feet, or KG Canaleta whizzing off a screen. Ranidel De Ocampo was showing BPC-candidate form, and Jimmy Alapag was chomping at the bit to put behind his scoreless, foul-riddled game three. The defense was alive with precise rotations, well-timed double teams and domination on the glass.

But the picturesque play from the first quarter didn’t magically vanish when Mark Barroca and James Yap ripped them apart in the last six minutes.  Their demise actually began in the third, when the Texters were crushed beneath the weight of the little things that added up from here and there.

It seemed like the Texters left their hot hands in the locker room, as while Canaleta continued to bomb away from three, Alapag couldn’t find the bottom of the net. And the tight perimeter defense began to leak, allowing the Mixers’ guards to find space to create whilst Sangalang torched them in the post. You’re not supposed to concede 14-0 runs that allow your opponents to believe in themselves again. You don’t go for the shots that are there instead of the best possible one. Another ring slipped through their fingers before they figured things out.

Talk ‘N Text’s disappearing acts

A couple of days ago, I said that the Texters needed their three-point game to be sharp, Ranidel De Ocampo to be hungry, and Richard Howell to get mad. Talk ‘N Text furiously checked all those boxes for most of the game, but they couldn’t come away with the win. They came up with their best punch, but they couldn’t knock the Mixers out.

Credit goes to guys like KG Canaleta, Kelly Williams, and even Danny Seigle who stepped their games up when they were called upon. But Jayson Castro went from being all over the place in game three to barely there in game four. Larry Fonacier has been in a series-long funk could barely string together decent possessions on either end, while Richard Howell couldn’t convince San Mig Coffee to send a double team at him.

The Texters took what the defense gave them and ran plays for shooters and pick and pops. But San Mig Coffee played the percentages and stayed planted inside towards the end. Eventually, the shots stopped falling, and the Texters didn’t have any more cards to play.

Mark Barroca and Big. Game. James.

Mark Barroca is forcing himself back into the conversation of who exactly is the league’s best point guard. Even if you chalk up his playoff performances to dominating smaller guys, including Ginebra’s LA Tenorio in the last conference, you have to grudgingly concede that he plays for big moments like this. He’s the one that led SMC back from the dead, down 17 in the third, and helped put the game away.

On the other hand, there’s not much more you can say about James Yap anymore. Without using words like “clutch” to describe him, his moment in the fourth quarter was all you need to know about the relationship he shares with Tim Cone. Yap was practically scoreless through three quarters and was benched during a botched comeback bid in game two. Yet with the championship on the line, Cone had faith that Yap would put the ball in the hoop, because he believed that Yap simply would. And with that three-pointer with exactly two minutes to play, the Finals MVP repaid his debt with a huge, gleaming trophy.  - AMD, GMA News