Winning Game 1 Against Pasay: A Priority One for San Juan

Regardless if you're the defending champions or not, winning the first game of a playoff series is a must for one reason: it can set the tone of the entire series.

But when you are the defending champions who are aiming to win another championship, the more you should care about winning the first game regardless if it's a best-of-three or a best-of-seven. And in the case of the reigning MPBL champions, the San Juan Knights, who romped into the top seed of the North Division after finishing the elimination phase with a 26-4 record, that's exactly the mindset that John Wilson and the rest of the Knights should carry coming into tonight's start of their best-of-three series against the eighth-seeded team in the North, the Pasay Voyagers.  

While San Juan beat Pasay last June, it didn't mean that the Knights were dominant all game long. In that game, San Juan finished the first quarter with a 24-5 lead over the Voyagers but came back with 51 points in the next two quarters while limiting the Knights to only 35 points. Pasay even outscored the Knights, 16-15 in the final quarter only to fall short in the endgame. If anything, that game proves that if San Juan let their guard down even if it's for a minute or two, the Voyagers of Dhon Reverente who had 26 points and 16 rebounds in that game, can definitely stun the defending champions as if they won't know what hit them.

And that's the importance of winning Game 1 for San Juan tonight.

Why?

For one, it's only a best-of-three quarterfinal series which means if San Juan can win the first game tomorrow, they can wrap the series up come Game 2 on February 20. If in the scenario that Pasay would stun the defending champions tonight, that will put San Juan in a very difficult situation because of the huge amount of expectation people have vested onto the team as they are the defending champions and they have a roster that can win multiple championships in the long run. In short, it will be a disappointment if San Juan is to lose this series.

So, how do the Knights win tomorrow's Game 1?

For starters, they must contain Dhon Reverente who averaged 11 points and 12 rebounds per game in the 30-game eliminations. He's both a top 10 player in total rebounds per game and total offensive rebounds per game. Secondly, the Knights must never, at all costs, take their feet away from the accelerator. They must pound on the Voyagers all 40 minutes. The fact that the Voyagers almost won despite being down by 21 points in their last encounter is proof that a rousing start to a game will not assure any team of a win. 

More importantly, the likes of John Wilson and Mike Ayonayon must step up with more consistency for tonight's game and beyond. The Knights don't need Ayonayon's 25% field goal shooting against Pasay the last time around or Wilson's 2 for 9 three-point shooting for that matter. If they can put that behind, they may just win Game 1 and it will be more than just a two-point victory. 

Photo is from the Facebook page of the San Juan Knights