B-Meg looks to get back on its feet after sorry debacle in Game 2 of PBA Finals

Game today:

Araneta Coliseum

6:45 p.m.- B-Meg vs. Talk ’N Text

The opportunity to go up 2-0 was there but the B-Meg Llamados let it slipped away. B-Meg will have its own chance of redemption as the Llamados and the Talk ’N Text Tropang Texters fight for a crucial 2-1 lead in Game Three of their Best-of-Seven Finals of the 37th PBA Commissioner’s Cup today at the Araneta Coliseum.

The series is back to square one after the Texters fashioned out a come-from-behind 104-102 win in Game 2, recovering from their 82-88 Game One loss.

B-Meg head coach Tim Cone said there’s no one to blame for their Game Two debacle but themselves.

“The bottomline is, we shot ourselves in the foot,” Cone told pba.ph. “We had the game and they came back and stole it from us. That makes you feel real bad.”

Cone was referring to the team’s failure to protect a 97-92 lead going into the final two minutes and bungled two offensive possessions, where they could have regained the lead.

“We had it under control,” noted Cone. “We overcame a lot and had the game, we were five points up, but we just couldn’t get that last basket we needed.”

For Cone, there’s no better way to bounce back from that loss than securing Game Three.

“It’s over and done with. We just have to get refocused and come back and play on Friday. The nice thing about it, we had the (series) lead. We could have been much worse, going down 0-2,” said Cone.

The Texters avoided falling to a dangerous 0-2 hole by improving their freethrow shooting in Game 2, where they went 31-for-43. That was way better than their 16-for-36 clip in Game One.

Though they finally made most of their gift shots, freethrow shooting still became an issue for the Texters when Donnel Harvey and Kelly Williams missed four straight free throws in the dying seconds that nearly cost them the game.

Fortunately for the Texters, Denzel Bowles and James Yap, who scored 33 and 25 points in Game 2, misfired in two separate B-Meg offensive plays that enabled the Texters to escape.

“All we did was tie the series. Let’s see if we can go and take a step ahead in Game 3,” said Talk ’N Text coach Chot Reyes.