PBA: Beermen seek ‘killer instinct’ as playoff race tightens

San Miguel Beermen during a huddle in a game against Terrafirma Dyip in the 2026 PBA Commissioner’s Cup. –PBA IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines—San Miguel Beer coach Leo Austria is urging his Beermen to shift into another gear as the playoff race for the PBA Commissioner’s Cup heats up.

Despite a convincing 126-110 win over Terrafirma Dyip on Wednesday, Austria said the Beermen still need to rediscover the edge that defined their championship runs.

“We still have one game remaining against Phoenix so every game, we want to develop that killer instinct again,” he said. “That same killer instinct is what gave us a lot of championships.”

The game on Saturday will be crucial, to say the least.

As it stands, the Beermen and the Fuel Masters are caught in a four-way logjam for the fifth seed with TNT and Magnolia, which all hold identical 6-5 records after Wednesday.

Against the Dyip, Fajardo embodied that killer instinct Austria was looking for with a monster double-double of 30 points and 16 rebounds.

“We knew we needed this,” said the reigning MVP. “Paps (Austria) reminded us in practice that we need to go hard from the start because we have a hard time chasing down leads so that’s what we did today.”

The Beermen barely gave Terrafirma a chance in what ended up to be Dyip’s elimination loss in the import-laden conference.

They  now look to carry that momentum into their final elimination-round game against Phoenix at Ynares Sports Center.