BELIEVE it or not, newly minted PBA champion coach Jorge Gallent referred to Ivan Aska's last two games as San Miguel Beer's import as the turning point to the Beermen's title run in the Season 48 Commissioner's Cup.
Before import Bennie Boatwright came over and led the Beermen's magical franchise-record nine-game winning streak from the eliminations through the first two games of the Finals, Gallent said Aska left his stamp to the team before being replaced.
The former Virgin Islands national player helped the Beermen secure crucial wins over the Barangay Ginebra Kings and the TNT Tropang Giga during his last two games in the elimination round to help the team pull out from a mediocre 3-3 record.
From there, Boatwright took over, beginning on Christmas Day where San Miguel routed Phoenix 117-96 that allowed the Beermen to zoom through a nine-game winning stretch en route to reaching the best-of-seven title series against Magnolia.
That magical winning stretch also saw San Miguel score a three-game semifinal series sweep to dethrone Barangay Ginebra 3-0.
"The turning point of the conference was really the last two games of Ivan, he really played his heart out. We won those games and those were were tough teams against Ginebra and TNT which lifted us out," Gallent said during the post-game interview, shortly after San Miguel completed its championship mission en route to a 4-2 series win against Magnolia on Wednesday.
Aska may not be in the mold of Boatwright, who is a natural three-point specialist, but Gallent noted that their former import played his guts out despite being aware that he's on the way out.
"Ivan really helped us. He knew he's gonna be changed, but he played his heart out. When we were 3-3, we beat Ginebra and TNT, that was the turning point of this conference," he added.
Aska averaged decent numbers of 24.3 points and 9.5 rebounds that helped San Miguel to a 5-3 record during his eight-game stint.
On the other hand, Boatwright brought a new dimension to San Miguel during his arrival as he averaged 34.5 points and 12.2 rebounds during the team's nine-game winning streak.
His three-point shooting, making five triples per game, was the biggest difference maker as it allowed June Mar Fajardo to thrive inside, while adding to the outside shooting arsenal of SMB that also included CJ Perez, Jericho Cruz, Don Trollano, Marcio Lassiter and Chris Ross.
And while the former USC Trojan saw his numbers dip during the final four games of the title series after being shadowed by Magnolia's import Tyler Bey, Perez, the Best Player of the Conference and eventual Finals Most Valuable Player was clutch as Gallent's squad went on to rule the Commissioner's Cup.
The championship marked San Miguel's 29th overall, 19th in an import-spiced conference and its fifth in the Commissioner's Cup.
Gallent also captured his first PBA crown as a head coach right in his first Finals stint.
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