San Miguel promptly moved on from its opening loss — and Mo Tautuaa's controversial late basket interference — as it came through with a Game 2 win vs. TNT.
With under a minute left to play, Mo Tautuaa found himself all alone in a transition play but decided to go for a layup instead of slamming the ball home.
San Miguel went on to silence TNT, 98-92, in Game 2 for a quick equalizer in the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup Finals Wednesday night, July 16.
In the series opener, Tautuaa was at the center of a controversial call that eventually spelled doom for the Beermen.
The incident stemmed from what was supposed to be his go-ahead dunk, which was later ruled an offensive basket interference. This then led to Calvin Oftana's game-clinching free throws.
[RELATED STORY: No protest for San Miguel after controversial Game 1 loss in PBA Finals: 'Exercise in futility']
As stinging as that was, Tautuaa and the rest of San Miguel opted to just divert their energy to Wednesday's contest at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
"After that frustrating loss, we kind of tried to put that to the side because there's nothing we could do about it anymore at this point. So all we're doing now is just making sure we go out and play our game," Tautuaa said.
San Miguel's Mo Tautuaa misses his lone dunk attempt in Game 2. | Photo (c) RM Chua/One Sports
Everything just fell in place for the Beermen come Game 2.
"When we play our brand of basketball, we do well. It feels good. You see us smiling, you see us happy," Tautuaa said.
"And when we play that way, things just go for us: we start rolling better, we start shooting better, we start playing better. And, I mean, that's the name of the game."
[RELATED STORY: PBA: Mo Tautuaa expresses frustration after dunk ruled as interference in SMB’s Game 1 loss]
However, it will take a while before fans see Tautuaa rock the rim again.
"If you've seen, I tried to do it again. I tried to do it again. I missed another dunk," Tautuaa said with a smile.
"I think I'm done trying to dunk now. I feel like I got over that point where I'll just lay it in from now on."