STAYING SHARP
With Talk ‘N Text rolling over opponents all conference long, the Tropang Texters are just hoping that this momentum will carry over to the playoffs.
Sweeping the nine elimination round games in the 2014 PLDT Home TVolution PBA Commissioner’s Cup, the morale of coach Norman Black’s boys certainly is on a high.
But with a team that is so used to winning, this feeling is nothing new and they know that the bigger prize is still at the end of the tunnel.
You can ask Kelly Williams about that.
One of the leaders in the blue-and-yellow squad, the 2008 MVP said, “Its good to be 9-and-0 but we know we have a long way to go.”
“We still need seven more wins to get to the championship. That’s our goal,” Williams said after emerging from their lockers after their 92-91 win over GlobalPort.
“We feel good about the direction we are going in and we’re gonna keep on working hard and make sure to get ready for the playoffs,” he said.
Williams finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds in a game where he started at center, as the Tropang Texters played sans Richard Howell.
In spite of that, five locals scored in double digits for the game.
“We know in the past conferences, if a player goes down, we have to be able to step up and try to fill the shoes together, and that’s what we did tonight,” Machine Gun Kelly said. “Richard is a big part of our offense and defense, more on rebounds and on defense and everybody stepped up and did a good job. We held fort and we’re expecting him to be back by the playoffs.”
Even Black lauded his team’s efforts for coming through despite Howell’s absence.
“Hats off to the local players for coming out and playing hard. They could easily go down but instead, they rallied with one another,” he said.
“The challenge now for me is to keep them fresh and sharp so we can be sharp going to the playoffs.”
Williams also echoed his coach’s sentiments saying, “We have to be ready, have some rest, and be sharp come tipoff in the playoffs.” (RL)
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