SMB breaks Chot Reyes’ streak of 24-straight playoff appearances

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The San Miguel Beermen has always proven that they are the kryptonite of the TNT Tropang Giga.

After taking them down during the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup grand finals, San Miguel once again stunned the Tropang Giga after crushing them, 119-99, in the ongoing Commissioner’s Cup conference on November 26 that officially booted them out of playoff contention.

Aside from missing the playoffs in this year’s import-laced conference, this is also the first time that TNT head coach Chot Reyes will not be qualifying in the post-season after 24 straight appearances.

It was just a disappointing outing for the Tropang Giga after failing to weather the storm in the second half against their arch-rivals.

After a one-sided first half in favor of the Beermen, the Tropang Giga came out with a sense of urgency in the final frame but went out of gas to fend off San Miguel.

TNT just couldn’t handle San Miguel’s depth that had another balanced offensive outing from their stars led by import Devon Scott who tallied 28 points and 14 rebounds.

Scott looked invincible against TNT after making 10 of his 13 total attempts from the field who was just man-handling the Tropang Giga in the shaded lane.

CJ Perez was also stellar for the resurging Beermen and contributed 17 big points alongside six rebounds while power forward Vic Manuel had 16 points, five boards, and three assists.

“The past few games, we’ve been terrible on the defensive boards. Now, we did a great job. We’re boxing out, we’re locating our man, and we were getting the defensive boards, which is good because it gave us an opportunity to run,” said assistant coach Jorge Gallent.

On the other hand, the Tropang Giga will end their Commissioner’s Cup campaign on a disappointing three-game losing streak and fall to 10^th place.

The Beermen will shoot for their third-straight win on December 2 against the Meralco Bolts on the last day of the Commissioner’s Cup elimination phase.