Chris Lutz says San Miguel can’t win series with talent
It’s hypnotic to watch basketball clips on Vine. You see the same play over and over. I saw two Vine videos (by user Thera Reyes) from Game 2 of the Philippine Cup Finals showing Chris Lutz knocking down long jumpers. The ball moved from Beerman to Beerman. Lutz completed the process with corner shots. You can see how they share the ball. How Alaska crowds June Mar Fajardo. How Lutz takes advantage of the situation. And if you’re a die-hard San Miguel fan, you hope to see more Lutz highlights from more Vine videos taken during more San Miguel victories for the rest of the series.
MH: With your skill-set, how do you exactly play off June Mar Fajardo? How do you play with a big man like that? How do you maximize your talents when you play with June Mar Fajardo?
CL: June Mar opens up a lot of things for everybody. It just spaces out the floor especially when we get the ball inside to him. The defense collapses on him right away. If June Mar finds any one of us, it can lead to a jumper or if a guys closes out late we can penetrate. He makes it so much easier for everybody and myself. He just sucks in the defense and my guy has to help on the weak side and stuff like that. If he gets the ball out and swings it and another guy swings it and it gets to the corner or we can drive to the hoop and make a play.
MH: Unlike in Game 1 where June Mar played so many minutes, he sat down for stretches in Game 2 and you guys played well. When June Mar sits down, how does your game change?
CL: I just have to be more aggressive in those situations. Offensively, we look for different things and we’ll run different sets when he’s not on the floor. Maybe I’ll get into more pick and roll situations with the ball in my hands. We’re not playing off the post as much so we can spread it out a little bit more with some movements, some down-screen, some pick-and-roll action. When he gets out of the game, some people just need to step-up on the offensive end and that’s what I try to do. I try to attack more and create offense.
MH: In the manner of stepping up, when you look at your numbers in the first two games of the series, were these the numbers you expected to produce in the Finals?
CL: I didn’t really know what to expect. I remember the first game that we played them, I got a lot of open looks in the first half because it’s just so much run and gun basketball. Going into this series, I thought I would get a lot of looks just because of their pressure and using that pressure against them so I can really attack. Trying to score against them on pick-and-rolls or with pocket passes is tough. They make it really difficult because they’re always in the passing lanes. It’s hard. I just try to go in and make the right basketball play every time I go in.
MH: How do you make the right basketball play when the game becomes a rugged contest? I got tired just watching Game 2 last night.
CL: (Laughs)
MH: Alaska plays physical and you guys became physical too in Game 2.
CL: It’s the Finals. Alaska will keep playing like that. They’ll continue to pressure for full 48 minutes. They play so tough. Coach (Alex) Compton has them playing with ridiculous intensity. You know guys like Arwind (Santos), (David) Semerad, Bitoy (Omolon), and Ronald (Tubid) played tough too. I thought Arwind and David did a phenomenal job of not backing down. It will continue to be like that and we’re up to the challenge.
MH: When most people look at San Miguel and Alaska, they might say Alaska is the comeback team and they play tough defense and they might say San Miguel is the powerhouse team with so much talent. Is that fair for most people to see the two teams that way?
CL: I guess so. But just because we have talent, it doesn’t mean we don’t work hard. We have to work hard. We know talent’s not going to win this championship. Alaska showed that right in the very first game. We had a huge lead and they continued to fight. They play so tough all the time. And it’s okay because that’s Alaska’s identity too because they built this whole conference on their defensive motor. They’re just relentless. So we know we just can’t win it with our talent. We’ve gone through so many conferences already and people talk about how we’re the most talented team. We have to play very, very good defense and we have to match their intensity. That’s the one thing we have to do against Alaska.
MH: Conference after conference, people always say San Miguel is a title contender, strong on paper. Yet one way or another, the team comes up short. You’ve gone through painful experiences in the past. But San Miguel is in the finals and what you did to Talk ‘N Text in the semis was scary. What makes San Miguel a different team now?
CL: I feel like we’re just all on the same page. Coach Leo (Austria) has us all on the same page. We’re sacrificing for each other. We’ve had it with all those past finishes. We’re through with finishing like that. We feel like it’s, hopefully, our time to capitalize on the opportunity. It’s not easy to win a championship. You have to put in the work. Your team has to be on the same page. You look at San Mig Coffee last year and you learn, you see a team that fights together, and I think we’re starting to do that now.
