In anticipation of tonight's telling third game (if Talk N Text wins it's all but over since no team in the history of Philippine basketball has ever come back from a 0-3 deficit), fans have been treated to 1) a match-up of great basketball players playing at the highest level and 2) an old school display of how you just can't take away from veteran coaches in the league.Truth be told, San Miguel Beermen head coach Ato Agustin has done an incredible job after taking the reigns from Siot Tangquincen. He has opened up the offense with a "small ball" line-up anchored on the backcourt brilliance of Alex Cabagnot and do-it-all forwards Arwind Santos and Jay Washington. If anything, I'd say the Beermen actually play like a collegiate team, forever hustling and running.
The problem is, that kind of basketball can win you a title or two in the amateurs. This is the PBA, and despite falling in the Asian basketball scene the last two decades, it's still where the country's best players and coaches are. Not with Smart Gilas, not in the ABL, Liga Pilipinas or anywhere else (okay, maybe someone should promote Norman Black already and get it over with).
