1992 San Miguel Beermen season

The 1992 San Miguel Beermen season was the 18th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Off-season transactions

Awards

• Renato Agustin won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.
• MVP Winner Renato Agustin and Ramon Fernandez were named to the Mythical five selection.
• Ferdinand Ravena was voted the season's Rookie of the year.

Notable dates

July 28: Ato Agustin scored a night-high 42 points as San Miguel seize solo leadership in the semifinals of the All-Filipino Conference with their 10th victory in 13 games, a 118-106 win over Purefoods, which now lost two straight games and dropped to 10-win, 4-loss. ^[1]

July 30: San Miguel swept the first round of the semifinals, winning against 7-Up in overtime, 103-97. Both teams won their first three outings in the semifinals and the Uncolas were riding high on a four-game winning streak before their match. ^[2]

October 11: Kenny Travis scored 52 points as San Miguel beat defending champion Alaska, 118-115, for only their second win in six games into the Third Conference. ^[3]

Summary

The San Miguel Beermen had two rookies signed during the off-season and welcomes the return of the "Skywalker" Samboy Lim, the Beermen were tied with two other teams, Shell and Presto, on top of the standings in the First Conference with seven wins and four losses. At the start of the semifinal round, the Beermen decided to replace their import Derrick Chievous, who played in all of their 11 elimination round games after a spat with some of his teammates, in favor of Rick Calloway. San Miguel beat Alaska Milkmen in a playoff game to finally enter the finals for the first time since winning the grandslam in 1989. Going up against the Shell Rimula-X Turbo Chargers in the championship series, the Beermen were the underdogs with Shell having Bobby Parks, who won his unprecedented seventh best import award, providing the big difference against his counterpart Rick Calloway. The Beermen lost in the title series in five games.

In the All-Filipino Conference, the Beermen won their last two games in the eliminations to finish second and a game behind defending champion Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs, which top the standings with eight wins and two losses. During the semifinal round, the Beermen won their first six outings for a magic number 13 wins and gain one of the two finals berth as their winning streak reach to 8 games. Going into the last day of the semifinal round, the Beermen played 7-Up, with both teams losing only once in the semifinals, the third-year ballclub Uncolas are getting close to their first finals stint and the Beermen can afford to lose and choose 7-Up as their opponent instead of the more experience Purefoods squad looking for their fifth straight All-Filipino finals appearance, but San Miguel went on to beat 7-Up, leaving the Uncolas in a playoff game with Purefoods, which the Hotdogs won. In a classic All-Filipino championship showdown between the Beermen and the Hotdogs, the San Miguel Beermen won in a hard-fought seven game series for their first crown in three years and their ninth overall title.

The Beermen decided to bring back Jay Taylor, who came in late for the team last season, as their import for the Third Conference. Taylor seems to be not in shape and was replace after playing only four games. Coming in was Kenny Travis, a former Purefoods import back in 1988. San Miguel had to go through a knockout game against Shell to qualify in the semifinal round. ^[4] The Beermen earned a playoff for the second finals berth against 7-Up by winning six of their eight semifinal outings and on a verge of playing in a finals series for the third time in the season, having beaten the Uncolas in all their four meetings in the Third Conference, but 7-Up came well-prepared and beat San Miguel, 102-91, in a playoff game on December 3. The Beermen placed fourth in the season-ending conference.

Roster

_{Assistant Coach: Filomeno Pumaren Team Manager: Eddie Veneracion}

References