And the series are now tied. SMB were able to rally in the 3rd quarter but they fall short in the 4th. Huge blow for the SMB as they loss JMF on that game, his ankle might be injured again and his status in game 5 is still uncertain. I hope he will be able to recover in time and the injury is not series as game 5 is a very important game for them, a must win situation to put pressure on the Magnolia Hotshots. It's the 2nd game that Boatwright Jr. has struggled again, this time he score 16 points from 5-16 shooting and his hot 3 point shooting is gone as he only made 1 of his 9 attempts.
Boatwright's is missing shots and with his poor performances the team again loss the game, I also hope that JMF will comeback this coming game 5 hope his injury is not that serious, I guess it's really something that will bring big impact for SMB's rally losing JMF will equal the chances of winning from both teams.
A fair and square competition without JMF, though Magnolia manage to tied the series and in coming game 5 if JMF will be sitting down they have another chance to extend their winning streak.
At this time, it's hard to pull the trigger this early because we are not sure about the status of Fajardo next game. Although SMB needs to win the next game but it still depend on how good their line up is. Missing Fajardo is gonna be huge for SMB as they will be missing a good rebounder and shot blocker, so let's calm down for a bit, wait and see, but hopefully JMF is fine and will play.
No need to rush, the game is not today but tomorrow in the evening. It will be Sunday, I'm sure there are a lot of SMB fans that will watch this game. A quick update on the point spread now, SMB is still slightly favored with -3.5 .The same line they had last game that they loss by 11 points. At the first two games, I thought the series would be over in 4 or max 5, but things have changed now, the momentum has shifted to the Magnolia Hotshots, and winning next game could put the SMB on a tough situation. We might still see Fajardo but he might not be 100%.
Enough time for JMF to rest, I think they likely to find ways to adjust with how Magnolia is playing them, SMB needs to find the right system to execute in countering Magnolia's offensive and defensive strategy, they manage to limit Boatwright and the rest of SMB's scorers, now it's time for SMB to make that good adjustments and find ways to make sure that they will be taking game 5 and put them back at the top.
on the other side, Magnolia's winning streak gives them confidence as they are doing so well limiting SMB's offensive attacks.
Magnolia is like playing small ball because they are quick and JMF is a disadvantage on that. If SMB could not hit their shots outside, they might struggle again because the paint will be clogged and Magnolia are just too aggressive in grabbing rebounds and defending the ball. It seems like Magnolia hasn't settled on the 3 point shooting, they keep on attacking the paint so they'll get a high percentage shot and their energy will remain high.
Let's analyze a bit the statistics in game 4. (
https://pba.ph/recap?match=2406512)
It was again a low scoring game, just like game 3, and the result was the same.
SMB has 37 attempts in the 3 point area and only made 8... That's 22% only.
Magnolia has 25 attempts and made 10... That's 40% equivalent.. too high.
You see, although Magnolia had a high 3 point percentage, they still choose to limit their attempts.
