San Miguel annihilates Phoenix to open PBA Governor’s Cup campaign

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The San Miguel Beermen are off to a quick start in the PBA Governor’s Cup after pulling off an offensive masterclass against the Phoenix Super LPG, 114-93, last January 29, 2023, held at the Ynares Center.

It was an immediate shooting exhibition for the reigning PBA Philippine Cup champions after all of San Miguel’s starters entered the scoring column with seven minutes still left in the opening canto.

Cameron Clark spearheaded San Miguel’s early assault after dominating in the paint where he managed to put the whole Phoenix frontcourt in foul trouble.

The Beermen dumped the ball to Clark to start their first four possessions and the PBA mainstay import didn’t disappoint, backing down Jason Perkins and Du’Vaughn Maxwell to score successive baskets in the shaded lane.

After Clark’s mini-offensive spurt, the trio of June Mar Fajardo, Marcio Lassiter, and Simon Enciso found their shooting stroke that kicked off San Miguel’s well-oiled offense.

Recently acquired shooting guard from the Converge FiberXers Allyn Bulanadi also had an emphatic debut wearing the red and black jersey after dropping 16 big points including big three-pointers to open the second canto.

Bulanadi, a former cadet of the Gilas Pilipinas men’s national basketball team, was acquired via a three-team trade a couple of months ago in exchange for Paul Zamar.

The leftie super scorer wasn’t shy of pulling the trigger in the San Miguel system and was given the green light to shoot whenever he found himself open from long distance.

Phoenix never recovered in the game and trailed by as much as 33 points when they failed to contain the blazing San Miguel offense.

“We just can’t relax. As I always tell them, we always have to play 48 minutes. If we tend to relax, we give our opponent chances to come back. We just have to play hard for 48 minutes, whether you come off the bench or you are starting,” said San Miguel head coach Jorge Gallent.