Tyler Bey's offensive sacrifice pays off as Magnolia holds off San Miguel in Game 3

A two-day rest heading to the Game 3 of the PBA Commissioner's Cup finals against San Miguel on Wednesday was all Magnolia needed to rediscover its identity.

Hotshots head coach Chito Victolero shared that the much-needed break allowed them to regroup and improve on their defensive scheme, which has been their main staple during the whole conference.

"The key factor is, I think, the two-day rest, medyo naka-recover ‘yung body namin," Victolero said.

(The key factor is, I think, the two-day rest, since our bodies recovered.)

"We had a hard time doing our defensive schemes, I don’t want to make excuses, but they’re all human so nakakaramdam din ng pagod but the good thing is we had that rest and nagawa namin ‘yung defensive mentality namin and that is to limit our opponents under 88 points."

(They're all humans so they also feel tired but the good thing is we had that rest and we executed our defensive mentality.)

That proved to be the case when the Hotshots gutted out an 88-80 victory to avoid sinking to a 0-3 hole against the stacked San Miguel side.

However, in order to pull off the gutsy win, the Hotshots needed to make a sacrifice.

Victolero assigned import Tyler Bey, who was one of their main source of offense, on the defensive end and put the clamps on his explosive counterpart Bennie Boatwright. That eventually bore fruit for the Hotshots as they stole Game 3 from the San Miguel.

"Tyler Bey did a good job on Boatwright but everyone stepped up on defensive end," Victolero added.

With Bey giving up his scoring, the locals stepped up for them with veteran guard Mark Barroca leading the support with 20 points while Bey, Ian Sangalang, and Aris Dionisio each chipped in 11.

Prior to Game 3, Bey was an offensive threat after putting together 26 points and 15 rebounds in Game 1 en route to their 103-95 loss. He then poured in 22 markers in Game 2, which they also lost, 109-85.

Bey, for his part, said he just did what he was ordered to do.

"It’s the playoff so I’m just really giving it my all. I just played through whatever it is. Whatever coach asks me to do, I’m gonna do it. I just had to step up tonight, we don’t want to go down 0-3," Bey said.

"It’s just me sacrificing, I just wanna win. I don’t really care about nothing else, I just wanna win the game."

—JKC, GMA Integrated News