LESSONS LEARNED
Since winning against Barangay Ginebra, NLEX has been on a skid as of late, falling to its third straight loss against Purefoods Friday.
But for coach Boyet Fernandez, it’s just one of those lessons the young team has to endure in its first dip in the PBA.
“It’s a lesson for us. We got very good defensive schemes, but at the end, nakaka-shoot pa rin eh,” he said. “In the first 24 minutes, we’re doing great on our defense. It’s just sustaining the defense dun sa other half.”
Fernandez added, “Wala naman sigurong problema, because against Meralco, we started out flat. They beat us very bad. Against San Miguel, it was a very close game, we really played defense the whole time. We just didn’t execute it in the end and their offensive rebounds haunted us. Today, we really played very good defense also, but in the end, we cannot sustain it. At the end of the shot clock, someone’s going to make a shot, they get a rebound, and they score. It’s a learning lesson for every one.”
“We just have to understand the defensive concept and we have to execute. In the end, marami kaming forced shots eh. We didn’t execute our press break. Matututunan namin yun eventually.”
The coach also said that the Road Warriors’ 2-3 card isn’t really showing how good this team can be, but he said that with enough patience and once his players completely buy into and be comfortable with his system, this group can really threaten the league powerhouses.
“We just have to improve, have to let the players understand our concept on defense,” he said. “Execution-wise, medyo masama pa ng konti. We have so many shots from the outside, lalo na sa three-point area, we were 5-of-22 today against Purefoods, probably not because of open looks but forced shots. And then, we have so many shot clock violations.”
“Ang dami pa naming kailangang pag-aralan. But we’re improving every day, so hopefully, we continue to learn and in the end, become a better team,” said Fernandez. (RL)
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