January 07, 2025

The Bro returns, but Coach Leo sits again: So, what’s the plan?

The Bro returns, but Coach Leo sits again: So, what’s the plan?

Terrence Romeo is back.

Out of commission since March due to a back injury, Romeo returned to action Friday night—just in time for San Miguel’s playoff push as a fifth seed.

The 5-foot-11 firebrand scattered 12 points in 16 minutes in his return to action. However, The Bro looked all out of sorts at times, shooting a paltry 5-of-14 from the field and missing 8 of his 10 attempts from beyond the arc.

Assistant coach Jorge Gallent, though, did not seem to mind Romeo’s shooting struggles, noting how the two-time scoring champ is still just feeling things out. Gallent is also playing the long game, hoping to get the super scorer back in the groove as the postseason rolls along.

“He looked fine inside the court,” said Gallent when asked to assess The Bro’s comeback game. “His stamina was kind of ok, but we just didn’t want to push his minutes. This is his first game after nine months, so we just let him feel the game, so that when the playoffs come, he’s played already.”

Indeed, the Beermen are a team with a plan—and it is a good one. Adding a healthy, back-in-the-groove Romeo to San Miguel’s championship core will make the defending Commissioner’s Cup champions a dangerous fifth-seed and a presumptive favorite to go all the way.

San Miguel’s plan for Romeo seems crystal clear. The Beermen’s coaching plans, however, are a bit fuzzy at the moment.

On the night The Bro made his long-awaited return, San Miguel continued to still be a man down. Ominously missing from the sidelines yet again was Coach Leo Austria, who missed his fourth consecutive game. Austria was initially placed under the PBA’s health and safety protocols prior to San Miguel’s game against Phoenix two weeks ago. But he has since cleared those protocols, and he would have been eligible to coach against Meralco already.

Curiously, San Miguel management continues to be tight-lipped about the Beermen’s coaching situation, while neither Austria nor Gallent has provided specifics on what the team will do next. There is a plan here somewhere, but no one is talking just yet. 

The waiting game begins.

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