VIRTUAL RELEGATION
TAKING note of his team’s recent struggles, Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao has laid down a simple goal for his team in the PLDT Home Telpad PBA Governors’ Cup.
“We’re just trying to avoid early elimination, win muna, then see what happens,” said Guiao. “For now we cannot be ambitious. Umiwas muna from early elimination saka mag-isip ng iba.”
Barako Bull coach Siot Tanquingcen is practically drilling in the same mind-set to his Energy when they collide with the Elasto Painters 2:45 p.m. Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The winner of the match not only moves up but also pushes its victim to ninth with each having only four assignments left in the sprint-like nine-game eliminations.
“We’re in the same boat, kaya siguradong bakbakan iyan,” was how Tanquingcen put it.
For Guiao, the biggest question would be on how his team would recover from a disappointing 81-83 loss to Talk N Text last Wednesday.
“The first order of the day for us is try to recover, mentally, from a hard loss. It’s how we can gather ourselves from that demoralizing loss,” he said.
In that game the E-Painters failed to salvage the game when Paul Lee missed a three-point shot at the buzzer.
Guiao said it shouldn’t have boiled down to that when Jeff Chan was fouled while trying to launch a triple try with just a little over four seconds left, but the referee instead ordered a simple sideline throw-in.
Guiao agreed with Tanquingcen that Saturday’s match would be a tough one and his team would be going to it with two major technical concerns.
“Statistics show they score more than 50 percent off the post or medium range shots. So when they get the ball there, there’s more than a 50 percent chance of them scoring,” noted Guiao. “We have tried to prepare the team, but we’re not really sure if it’s going to be effective.”
Compounding that worry for Guiao is the fact Barako can get hot from beyond the arc, as when it dropped 13 triples against San Miguel Beer in a 112-115 overtime loss also last Wednesday.
“With Barako almost everybody can shoot the three-point shot. With their post threat and if they can hit their stride with the three-point shot then it’s going to be very hard to beat them,” said Guiao.
Tanquingcen said it is on making the stops he is more obsessed with. “We have to defend better,” he stated. (NC)
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