San Miguel, TNT expect tough series as they dispute Philippine Cup crown

The San Miguel Beermen and TNT Tropang Giga are expecting nothing less than a dogfight as the two flagship teams open their 2022 PBA Philippine Cup Finals series on Sunday.

San Miguel is the winningest team in the All-Filipino conference with nine titles, highlighted by a historic five-peat from 2014 to 2019. But TNT, which will look to inch closer to the SMC team in this series, is sitting not too far behind.

The MVP-owned squad is currently in a three-way tie at second place with a total of six chips in the Philippine Cup, including the 2012-2013 season that capped off three straight All-Filipino titles.

With so much history, both teams said a difficult series is surely in the offing.

"I know it's going to be a tough series," said TNT super scorer Mikey Williams during a press conference on Friday at the Novotel.

For TNT head coach Chot Reyes, the odds of the Tropang Giga winning the series against a stacked San Miguel side are even, as both teams are eager to add to their All-Filipino title collection.

"Very honestly, very difficult. If you take a look at the lineup and how deep it is, it's 50-50 kasi there's just two teams left," Reyes added. 

"The important thing for us is to stay patient and understand how difficult this series is going to be. We just need to be prepared."

San Miguel's tactician Leo Austria, though, admitted that it's going to be challenging to put a stop to Williams but said they won't focus on just one player.

"We should not focus on Mikey, marami silang players who can score," the mentor said.

Game 1 of the best-of-seven series will uncork on Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

—JMB, GMA News