WITH the No. 1 seed and twice-to-beat advantage in the bag, San Miguel has one achievement that is within its grasp – a sweep of the elimination round in the 2024 billion casino royal:PBA Philippine Cup.

No team has ever swept an elimination round since Talk ‘N Text in the 2014 Commissioner’s Cup when it went 9-0. It hasn’t happened again even after the PBA expanded to 12 teams during that same year with TNT (2016 Governors’ Cup, 2019 Commissioner’s Cup) and San Miguel (2016-17 Philippine Cup) being the closest after a 10-1 win-loss slate.

SMB coach Jorge Gallent, however, insists that the sweep is the farthest thing in their minds, and the focus is solely against Blackwater, a team that is near the bottom of the team standings with a 3-6 win-loss mark and on a six-game losing skid. “Our next goal is the 10th win,” said Gallent. “We are going step-by-step. Monday, Tuesday, we will prepare for Blackwater and for now, we will just think of the 10th game. We will think of Blackwater.” The Beermen moved two wins shy of the elimination round sweep after routing NLEX, 120-103, behind the 30-point effort of CJ Perez and the 20-point, 21-rebound performance of June Mar Fajardo.

San Miguel has been mostly unopposed in this conference with only three wins – TNT, Barangay Ginebra, and Terrafirma – contested by three points or less.
Gallent said it would be a great achievement for the team 🐲if they won all the games in the elimination round.

“If it comes, it comes. But that’s not really in our minds. We just do it step-by-step, prepare every team when it comes,” said Gallent. After the game against Blackwater, San Miguel will conclude the elimination round on Saturday when it plays Meralco at the Batangas City Coliseum. And even that game isn’t in the conversation within the squad. “On Wednesday, we will play Blackwater. We will prepare against Blackwater and then Saturday, against Meralco. As of now, Meralco isn’t even in our heads because we are playing Blackwater on Wednesday,” said Gallent.

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