PBA San Miguel vs NLEX 2019: Key Highlights and Game Analysis You Missed
I still remember the excitement buzzing through the Philippine basketball community back in 2019 when PBA San Miguel faced off against NLEX. That particular game wasn't just another regular season matchup—it represented something deeper in the league's evolving landscape. Having followed the PBA for over a decade, I've seen how roster moves can dramatically shift team dynamics, and this game perfectly illustrated that interconnectedness. What many casual fans missed was how the three-team trade involving Phoenix, Northport, and Converge indirectly influenced both teams' strategies that night. The Fuel Masters acquiring Nelle from Northport created ripple effects throughout the league, with the Batang Pier ending up with Jeo Ambohot from Converge and the FiberXers landing Larry Muyang's signing rights from Phoenix. These moves, while not directly involving San Miguel or NLEX, reflected the kind of strategic roster building we'd see play out in this very game.
When I rewatched the game footage recently, what struck me was how both teams approached the matchup with their trademark styles. San Miguel, always the powerhouse, relied heavily on their veteran core and championship experience. They moved with that characteristic confidence that comes from years of playing together, executing set plays with surgical precision. NLEX, meanwhile, played with the hunger of a team looking to prove something, utilizing younger legs and a more aggressive defensive scheme. The game remained close through three quarters, with San Miguel holding a narrow 78-75 lead heading into the final period. I recall thinking during that fourth quarter how the absence of a true backup point guard was hurting NLEX—exactly the kind of gap a player like Nelle could have filled. The trade that sent him to Phoenix showed how teams were constantly searching for that backcourt stability, something both teams in this matchup understood deeply.
The turning point came with about six minutes left in regulation. San Miguel went on an 11-2 run over just three minutes, essentially sealing the game. What impressed me most was how their ball movement created open looks—they recorded 24 assists on 38 made field goals, an impressive ratio that demonstrated their unselfish play. June Mar Fajardo dominated the paint as expected, finishing with 28 points and 14 rebounds, but it was Chris Ross's defensive intensity that truly stood out to me. He racked up 4 steals, including two crucial ones during that decisive fourth-quarter run. On the NLEX side, Kiefer Ravena put on a show with his creative playmaking, finishing with 22 points and 9 assists, but he didn't get enough support from his secondary scorers. Their bench was outscored 42-28, a statistic that highlighted their depth issues—the very kind of problem the three-team trade was attempting to address for other franchises.
Looking back, this game exemplified why I find the PBA so fascinating—the interconnectedness of roster moves, coaching strategies, and on-court execution. While San Miguel ultimately won 102-95, the score doesn't tell the full story of how competitive this matchup truly was. The strategic adjustments both coaches made throughout the game, the way players adapted to different defensive schemes, and the underlying context of league-wide roster shuffling all combined to create a compelling narrative. That three-team trade involving Nelle, Ambohot, and Muyang's rights might seem unrelated to this particular game, but to me, it represented the constant churn of talent that keeps the PBA dynamic. Teams are always looking for that missing piece, whether it's a backup point guard, a defensive specialist, or a promising big man—the very elements that decided this contest.
What stays with me years later is how this game captured a specific moment in PBA history—a transitional period where traditional powers like San Miguel were being challenged by rebuilt squads. The league has changed significantly since 2019, but revisiting this matchup reminds me why I fell in love with Philippine basketball. The intensity, the strategic nuances, the way a single trade can send vibrations through the entire league—it's all there in this classic encounter between two teams fighting for positioning in a constantly shifting landscape. For true basketball nerds like myself, these layers of context make the game worth remembering long after the final buzzer has sounded.
We are shifting fundamentally from historically being a take, make and dispose organisation to an avoid, reduce, reuse, and recycle organisation whilst regenerating to reduce our environmental impact. We see significant potential in this space for our operations and for our industry, not only to reduce waste and improve resource use efficiency, but to transform our view of the finite resources in our care.
Looking to the Future
By 2022, we will establish a pilot for circularity at our Goonoo feedlot that builds on our current initiatives in water, manure and local sourcing. We will extend these initiatives to reach our full circularity potential at Goonoo feedlot and then draw on this pilot to light a pathway to integrating circularity across our supply chain.
The quality of our product and ongoing health of our business is intrinsically linked to healthy and functioning ecosystems. We recognise our potential to play our part in reversing the decline in biodiversity, building soil health and protecting key ecosystems in our care. This theme extends on the core initiatives and practices already embedded in our business including our sustainable stocking strategy and our long-standing best practice Rangelands Management program, to a more a holistic approach to our landscape.
We are the custodians of a significant natural asset that extends across 6.4 million hectares in some of the most remote parts of Australia. Building a strong foundation of condition assessment will be fundamental to mapping out a successful pathway to improving the health of the landscape and to drive growth in the value of our Natural Capital.
Our Commitment
We will work with Accounting for Nature to develop a scientifically robust and certifiable framework to measure and report on the condition of natural capital, including biodiversity, across AACo’s assets by 2023. We will apply that framework to baseline priority assets by 2024.
Looking to the Future
By 2030 we will improve landscape and soil health by increasing the percentage of our estate achieving greater than 50% persistent groundcover with regional targets of:
– Savannah and Tropics – 90% of land achieving >50% cover
– Sub-tropics – 80% of land achieving >50% perennial cover
– Grasslands – 80% of land achieving >50% cover
– Desert country – 60% of land achieving >50% cover
