Finally, San Miguel Beer had fallen.

The vaunted dynasty that the Beermen had erected for the past six finals appearances was razed to the ground after Ginebra came up with an emphatic performance to win the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup crown late Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

San Miguel head coach Leo Austria admitted that the Kings’ victory is just the beginning.
“People kept on saying that we’re a strong team. But all of a sudden, there’s another team emerging as playing better than us,” said Austria, who fell to 6-1 in the PBA Finals since taking over the coaching reign in San Miguel back in 2014.

“Pound-for-pound, they could match with our personnel. They are really a threat. They are emerging as the team to watch and the powerhouse team.”

Austria said that he saw the erection of Ginebra’s dynasty since Tim Cone — the league’s most triumphant mentor — was hired in 2015.

“Since coach Tim coached Ginebra, I know that this time will come. I know that we will face eventually in the championship,” he said, adding that the presence of Greg Slaughter down low neutralized the power of June Mar Fajardo.

“They have a lot of advantage because they have the size. They have Greg who could match-up with June Mar.”

Austria said they are taking the setback as a motivation in the Governor’s Cup.

“It’s hard to maintain being on top. Sooner or later, you’ll go down and now it’s happening.

It could be a wake-up call for us. I hope the team realized what’s happening right now.”
“We should erase from our minds that we’re a superteam. We have to go back to the basics, the fundamentals of basketball,” he said.

“We will be back. I’m sure we can find a way.”