SAN MIGUEL Beer may be playing with a depleted roster at this point, but expect the Beermen to go flat out for a win this afternoon when they clash with the dangerous Purefoods Chunkee Giants in the 2005 San Mig Cofee-PBA Fiesta Conference at the Araneta Coliseum.
As the lone winless squad in the young PBA season, the Beermen (0-2) will have to work doubly hard against the youthful Giants (2-1) who are coming off an ego-boosting, come-from-behind win over the Alaska Aces last Friday. The two teams clash at 4:10 p.m. after which Air21 (1-1) goes for a share of second spot when it tangles with Red Bull (1-2) in the 6:40 main game.
San Miguel dropped its first two games — against Talk ’N Text, 66-74, and a 77-79 heartbreaker against Coca-Cola, which saw Tigers import Alex Carcamo sneak in for a putback of a Johnny Abarrientos miss.
San Miguel’s slow start partly has something to do with the absence of Fil-Am bruiser Dorian Peña and Dondon Hontiveros, who are still out of commission due to an assortment of injuries.
San Miguel coach Jong Uichico, however, is not blaming the lack of manpower for the Beermen’s poor start as he looks to dig deep into his bench.
Danny Seigle is already back in his deadly form, erupting for 27 points in that loss to the Tigers. He’ll certainly be working together with import Rico Hill and Nic Belasco, though veterans like Danny Ildefonso, Olsen Racela, Francis Adriano and even off-season acquisition Christian Calaguio need to log in more points on the scoreboard to turn things around for the Beermen.
Purefoods is no easy prey though what with the team managing to pull off one of the league’s most stunning comeback win – rallying from a 29-point deficit to pull off the win over the Aces in overtime.
