STREAKING ACES SHOOT FOR NO. 3
“The thing we have to understand is it’s gonna get tougher from here.”
Alaska coach Luigi Trillo kept his team’s confidence in check as the Aces try to stretch their winning run to five at the end of their elimination campaign in the 2014 PLDT Home TVolution PBA Commissioner’s Cup Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Gunning for the number three-seed in the quarterfinals, Alaska faces San Mig Super Coffee, which is also targeting the said spot. Tip-off is at 3 p.m.
A win for the Aces will put them at 6-3, good for third, ahead of the Coffee Mixers, Meralco, and Rain or Shine, which is also playing on the same day.
Trillo is conscious of the playoff scenarios that would play out, and for him, he’d rather take care of their own fate than wait for the other game to determine where they would end up in the quarterfinals.
“San Mig and us, we’re gonna be fighting for third and fourth,” he said. “It’s safer to get to three than it is to stay at four. Right now, I’m sure everybody’s trying to avoid Talk ‘N Text. They’re in another level now.”
Though the Aces have already secured themselves a best-of-three series with five games already in the bag, it’s in the least of Trillo’s goals to end their eliminations on a bad note, given that in the past four games, Alaska has shown the brand of basketball which is reminiscent of its Commissioner’s Cup title conquest last season.
“You want to enter the playoffs feeling good about each other. You play teams that are in contention, and that is setting you up to the type of physicality and energy in the playoffs. It’s not gonna get easier from here,” he said. (RL)
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