San Miguel Beermen win PBA Commissioner's Cup Championship for 27th title in franchise history

MANILA (Philippines) – The San Miguel Beermen comeback from a 1-2 deficit to win 3 straight games along with the PBA Commissioner’s Cup 2019 title over TNT Katropa.

It is their 4^th Commissioner’s Cup in franchise history and also the 2^nd in three consecutive trips to the Finals series of this conference. This championship win also extends the Beermens lead with All-Time PBA championships with a total of 27.

The Beermen hobbled through the elimination round of the conference, finishing with a 5-6 record that resulted in a 7^th seed in the playoffs. Not backing down San Miguel took down 2^nd seed NorthPort in the Quarter-finals before blasting through Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the Semi-finals 3-1 in a Best of 5 series. This set them up with a Finals showdown against TNT Katropa.

TNT cruised through the elimination round with a league-best 10-1 record before eventually making it to the championship round. They had been eliminated by San Miguel in 5 of their last 6 playoff runs leading up to this series.

The highlight of the Finals turned out to be a classic Game 2 double-overtime showdown which resulted in a Beermen win, 127-125. The first 5 games of the series remained close, decided in 10 points or less, before the title-clinching contest 102-90 win for San Miguel.

TNT's Terrence Jones was the Best Import Player of the Conference and put up a hulking Finals series with 35.7 points, 14.7 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 2.7 steals, and 3.5 blocks per game. The Best Player of the Conference was also from TNT, Jayson Castro, who recorded a spectacular 18.7 points, 5.8 boards, and 6.7 assists on average throughout the series. 

Despite these two stars putting on their best efforts for TNT, it was not enough to stop San Miguel Beermen from winning their second straight PBA title of the season.

Chris McCullough was rushed into the team mid-conference but proved to be worth the trouble with his averages of 31.5 points, 17.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.2 blocks per game leading the way for the champions. Reigning PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo also put in a huge contribution to the title win with 19.8 points and 9.8 boards per contest.

Beermen's Terrence Romeo was named the Finals MVP with an entire series of dazzling scoring and clutch shoooting. The former-TNT Katropa averaged 14. 8 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists in the 6 games of the PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals.

(Featured Photo by Tristan Tamayo, Inquirer Sports)

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