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SMB’s hot hands remain a problem for Magnolia: Victolero

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Rom Anzures

ABS-CBN News

<figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments" id="isPasted"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1707138983140.png" alt="Magnolia coach Chito Victolero in Game 2 of the 2023-24 PBA Commissioner&#x27;s Cup Finals against San Miguel Beer. PBA Images." class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><figcaption>Magnolia coach Chito Victolero in Game 2 of the 2023-24 PBA Commissioner&#x27;s Cup Finals against San Miguel Beer. PBA Images.</figcaption></figure><div> </div>MANILA — After a strong showing in the PBA on Tour and the 2023-24 PBA Commissioner&#x27;s Cup, the Magnolia Hotshots are two defeats away from bidding their title hopes goodbye. Magnolia is facing a 0-2 deficit against San Miguel Beer in their best-of-7 Finals series, with their latest loss coming on Sunday night wherein they fell by as much as 26 points in the second half.Hotshots mentor Chito Victolero said his team, who is the league’s best team on defense, has not been able to take advantage of their strength in this particular series.“It’s our main problem,” he said following the contest.“We need to fix our transition defense because there are a lot of transition threes [from them]. I think, yun muna yung uunahin namin ayusin, and then to our offense.”In their earlier games, Magnolia relied on forcing their opponents into shooting long jumpers and low-percentage shots against them. The Phoenix Fuel Masters somehow took advantage of this especially during their Game 3 Semifinals win wherein they drained 12 of their 28 treys. For comparison, they only converted an average of 8.3 threes in their three losses.The only problems are first, they only allowed the Fuel Masters to do that once, and second, that was Phoenix and this is SMB — the league’s best team overall on offense.Adding to this is how San Miguel is second in the league in three-point makes and conversions, with SMB hitting 10.8 treys per game at an average of 35.2%.Only ahead are the eliminated TNT Triple Giga, who made 12 per game while shooting 36% from beyond the arc. They also attempted almost three more shots than the Beermen, 33.2 to 30.5.In two games so far, SMB has made 26 three-pointers so far, 16 of which came last Sunday. <div><ivs-player data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-vid="2951752"></ivs-player> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script></div>Despite this, however, Victolero is keen on looking for a solution.“We’re not giving up. That’s my message to our players,” said the one-time PBA champion coach.“This is not the time to quit. We’ve been preparing for this, dreaming of this since eight months ago, so the only thing that we need to do is rest and prepare for Wednesday.”“I hope, the coaching staff and me will find better defensive and offensive schemes for this series,” he continued.For Victolero, tallying one win is what they need the most for now, explaining that it can help them turn around this championship clash.“We need muna manalo ng isa this Wednesday,” he said. “All the positives, we take, all the negatives, we will find a better resolution for it.”

After a strong showing in the PBA on Tour and the PBA Commissioner's Cup, Magnolia is two defeats away from bidding their title hopes goodbye.

After a strong showing in the PBA on Tour and the PBA Commissioner's Cup, Magnolia is two defeats away from bidding their title hopes goodbye.