History after history: How San Mig Coffee put its name in the book?

Since the arrival of Coach Tim Cone, this team reached the play-offs consistently.

In 2012 All Filipino Cup, BMEG Llamados (its former name) topped the eliminations round but experienced an upset loss to 8th-seed Powerade Tigers lead by Gary David.  That painful experience motivated this team to perform better into the next conference. Lead by a 6 ft 11 in, 23-year-old Best Import Denzel Bowles, this team captured its 9th championship, first under coach Tim Cone, in a miraculous win over Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters after putting the game into overtime as he sank those two nerve-cracking free throws in a mammoth Game 7 Sunday crowd at the Smart Araneta Coliseum? James Yap was named the Finals MVP then.

Going to the next conference, 2012 Governor’s Cup, BMEG Llamados once again entered the Finals against a young talented team Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters headed by their fiery coach Yeng Guiao. This series was again stretched into 7 games where the Painters captured its first PBA Title lead by their import Jamell Cornley who outdueled Llamados’ all-around import Marqus Blakely.  

Because of two consecutive Finals appearances, no doubt that BMEG Llamados drew more fans,that made the San Miguel Corporation decided to change BMEG Llamados into San Mig Coffee Mixers.

In 2013 All Filipino Cup, they finished the eliminations with 10 wins and 4 losses, grabbing the second seed with a twice to beat advantage. They passed the quarterfinals by winning against Petron Blaze, but failed to reach the next round by losing to their contrapelo, Rain or Shine, 4 wins to 2.Those where the times when Coach Yeng Guiao had Coach Tim Cone’s numbers.

On the next conference, 2013 Commissioner’s Cup, they finished the eliminations, 8 wins to 6 losses, at the fourth seed. They passed Meralco Bolts on a best-of-three quarterfinals series, but lost to the Alaska Aces on the Semi-Finals, 3-1, with their comeback import, Denzel Bowles. That was the time when Alaska Aces got its first title under a rookie coach Luigi Trillo.

On the start of the 2013 Governor's Cup, they finished the eliminations, 6 wins and three losses; they won the quarterfinals over Alaska Aces and the semi finals against Meralco Bolts. They faced and defeated Petron Blaze Boosters in a 7-game series lead by the Best Import Marqus Blakely and Finals MVP Marc Pingris, 80-77. That’s the 10th title for the franchise and 13th for Coach Tim Cone, tying him with his idol, the legendary Baby Dalupan for the most number of PBA titles in league history.

After their 10th championship, a press conference was made by the team that renaming it as San Mig Super Coffee Mixers.

Before entering the next season, San Mig Super Coffee Mixers acquired three rookies, 2nd Pick overall Ian Sangalang, together with Justin Chua, Justin Melton and JR Cawaling. A few days after the draft, Justin Chua was eventually traded to GlobalPort in exchange for Isaac Holstein, the 7th pick overall of GlobalPort.

Back – back championships

Because of some injuries and fatigue that bothered this team, San Mig Coffee had a slow start in the 2013 All Filipino Cup, having a record of 0-3. But this team was able to reach a 7-7 record to end the eliminations round and face Talk ‘N Text in the quarterfinal round. San Mig won the Game 3 of the playoffs with a great performance from their rookie, Justin Melton in a 90-82 win that earned them a place in the semifinals round against Brgy. Ginebra San Miguel. That Manila Clasico series also went into 7 games, where the Mixers came out victorious and booked its ticket to the Finals. They faced Rain or Shine once again, this time, no import to rely on. Unlike from their first meeting, the series only went into six games, where San Mig Super Coffee Mixers got its back – to back championship title with Marc Barroca was named as the Finals MVP.

Three- peat

Because of the height-limit rule in this season, San Mig Coffee wasn't able to call Denzel Bowles for his another duty here, that’s why, Coach Tim Cone decided to tap James Mays as their import for this 2013 Commissioner’s Cup conference. They surpassed Alaska in the quarterfinals and Air 21 in the semi-finals. Being tagged as “Mr. Everywhere”, James Mays helped this team to reach its 3 straight finals appearances against a team with a clean record from Eliminations to Semi-finals, the Talk ‘N Text headed by Coach Norman Black. The Mixers won game one with a 95-80 victory, breaking the thirteen-game winning streak of the Texters.  But, the Texters came out strong on their second meeting and won the game, 86-76. The Mixers bounced back and won the game three of the series 77-75. Game 4 was held at the Phil Sports Arena, May 15, 2014. The Mixers, being down 17-1 on the first quarter, rallied back and won the game 100-91 and bagged their twelfth championship, three straight under Coach Tim as he surpassed the legendary Coach Baby Dalupan. James Yap won his 2nd Finals MVP under Coach Tim Cone.

Four- peat / Grand Slam

San Mig Coffee again recruited Marqus Blakely for the third time. Why not? He’s known as the Mr. Everything who provides the tangibles and non-tangibles for this team.

Having a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals, the Mixers was able to defeat Petron Blaze in their first game, that tallies their eight-straigth semi-finals appearance wherein they will be facing the powerhouse Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters. San Mig won the first two games, but Talk N Text was able to grab the next two games to force a do-or-die match. Winning their last 7 do-or-die games, San Mig Coffee was able to end this series and booked its ticket to their 4th straight Finals Appearance to continue their hope for a historic grand slam.

Just when people thought that Talk ‘N Text was the hardest test for San Mig Coffee, Coach Yeng and the rest of his boys showed why they were the team who will try to spoil the Grand Slam dream.

San Mig won the controversial game one, with the timely hits from Big Game James Yap, 101-104; but, Rain Or Shine fought back on yet another closed game two, 87-89, lead by AZ Reid. Game three became a bit different for San Mig Coffee who won by nine points, 69-78, piloted by their priced – rookie Ian Sangalang. However, Game 4 became more unlikely, for Rain Or Shine came out really strong delaying that Grand Slam celebration of San Mig with Coach Yeng’s “magic bunot”  Jonathan Uyloan, 88-79.

In Game Five of this very momentous event in the PBA history, San Mig Coffee started strong and even took the lead for as much as 16 points. But we all know that Rain Or Shine are not going to back down easily. The lead went down into one but James Yap scored five consecutive points in return. AZ Reid though limping in pain because of his foot injury tried everything to help his team get back and cut the lead down to three in less than two minutes left. The Painters had all the chance to tie the game, but Paul Lee and Jeff Chan both missed their three point shots. On the other hand, James Yap and Marc Barroca both missed their 2 free throw shots living Rain or Shine yet another chance to tie the ball game with just 2.6 seconds left. Coach Yeng called a time out and mapped his final plan. AZ Reid was able to receive the ball from the inbound and shoot a trey but the distractions from Marc Barroca and Marqus Blakely were enough to not make the shot.

The final buzzer sounded. That sound marked the San Mig Coffee Mixers as the 4th team in the PBA to grab that elusive Grand Slam.

James Yap was named as the Finals MVP with an average of 16.2 points and 4.4 rebounds in this series.
Defense wins championships

Sounds cliche, but this really works for the Mixers. This team had beaten talented and offensive-minded teams. If it's a low scoring ball game, basically, it's San Mig Coffee's game. Teams like Talk 'N Text, Petron and Rain Or Shin have a lot of shooters from the outside. They could score more than a hundred in any given time. But, against San Mig Coffee, their productions against with them in a series were lessen. The number of attempts might be the same or has a slight difference, because the Mixers will actually allow them to shoot from the trey more rather than in the paint or both.

The beauty of surpassing do-or-die games
Before this game five, San Mig Coffee surpassed eight do-or-die games. Meaning,  they experience eight series or playoffs of grinding out, battling through adversities, and when their backs are against the wall. Those experiences toughened them and made them knew each other well. How did it manifest? Before game five on this series, San Mig Coffee players had guts to state the following:

“Alam naman naming marami kaming games na ganito. Sila kaunti pa lang siguro sa mga ganitong crucial games. Ito ang advantage namin sa next game,” Barroca said.

”Masarap maglaro sa ganitong sitwasyon na do-or-die, parati naman kaming ganito. Masarap maglaro kasi nang may pressure. Pero siyempre, mas masarap kapag nanalo,” he added.

“Mahirap, pero sa ganitong mga Game Five, may experience na rin kami. So hopefully, magamit namin yun this coming Wednesday,” Yap said.

“Kung may hinog yung puno na yan. Hindi mo kailangang hintayin na mahulog. Kailangang kunin mo. Yan ang gagawin namin bukas. Kahit anong mangyari kukunin namin yan (championship),” Pingris added.

Coach Tim is now the first PBA Coach winning two grand slams in two different franchise. 

Now that they put their name in the PBA History, all their hard work and sacrifices had paid off.   

Congratulations San Mig Super Coffee Mixers!