‘FIGHT ANOTHER DAY’
THE scenarios are still far too numerous for Barako Bull coach Bong Ramos to contemplate them all.
So he has one strict order for his Energy when they take on Alaska anew at the end of the PLDT myDSL PBA Philippine Cup eliminations Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“Win at all cost,” stressed Ramos on the eve of the match.
“We can’t allow other teams to dictate our destiny for us,” added Ramos. “One good thing about our situation is that nasa amin pa rin ang kapalaran namin. But we have to get the job done ourselves.”
It is the same mindset the Aces have since a victory would place them with the Energy, Meralco and GlobalPort in a four-way tie at 5-9.
Such ties would be broken by the team or teams with the higher quotients making it outright with the ones with the lower quotients figuring in a one-game knockout match for the eighth and the last spot to the quarterfinals.
Either way, Alaska is practically sure to figure in the do-or-die game. But only a win would bring that about.
“Win and fight to live another day for us or go home,” said Aces coach Luigi Trillo, while practically admitting the tough at hand alone is a tough one.
“Barako is a team full of quality veterans,” stated Trillo.
The problem, however, lies more within Alaska, which is coming off an 88-91 overtime loss to GlobalPort last Sunday.
That marked the third time in four games which went into OT that Alaska lost and Trillo said it is all about getting their gameplan down pat.
“We need to close out games better. No shame on how we played, but we can execute better. Six of our losses have been down the wire,” said Trillo. (NC)
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