Austria surprised with SMB's Game 1 rout

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By Ivan Saldajeno

PASAY—Despite San Miguel's dominating Game 1 win in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals on Friday night, Coach Leo Austria admitted to the media that he did not see the blowout coming.

"I really don't know what happened, dahil I'm not expecting this kind of game na one-sided since the first quarter," Austria said.

It was almost all Beermen from the tip-off, putting the majority of the 14,026 people at the Mall of Asia Arena in silence.

They finished the game with a 53 percent field goal rate, assisting on 28 of their 42 made baskets, while limiting the Barangay to only 39 percent shooting.

"Talagang nanlilisik ang mga mata nila, because they want to win. They know the importance of the first game. It can dictate the tempo of the series," Austria further commented on his players' impressive game.

However, he expressed awareness that this is just the start of the best-of-seven affair.

"Game 1 is not an assurance that you will win the series. It just gave us some psychological advantage. Coach Tim is a great coach. He knows what kind of situation he's facing now," Austria said.

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