ACES LOOK TO BOUNCE BACK
Days before Alaska waged war against Purefoods in their best-of-three quarterfinal duel, head coach Alex Compton compared his coaching matchup with Grand Slam-winning coach Tim Cone to that of Einstein against a three-year-old.
Bludgeoned by the Hotshots on Friday, Compton took his statement back.
“I think I flattered myself too much. Maybe an infant, six months old, someone who’s learning to crawl,” he said. “They just beat us fair and square.”
Two days after that demolition job, Alaska seeks to equalize the series and live for another day as the Aces go up against the Hotshots in Game 2 of the 2015 PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Losing by 34, 86-120, on Friday, Compton offered no excuses for the beatdown they received at the hands of Purefoods.
“They just shot the lights out. We just had some defensive breakdowns. They really stuck it to us,” he said. “I would say they put the rest of the league on notice today, except for they did that five years ago.”
Still, the youthful coach stressed the importance of making the right changes for their game on Sunday.
“We have one day to make some significant adjustments and show up with more heart. We just got to be a lot better,” said Compton.
Game time is at 3:00 p.m.
Meanwhile, Cone isn’t really dwelling on the huge win as he said, “I’d be a lot happier if this was Game 2 instead of Game 1. All we did was to get a 1-0 lead. This one doesn’t mean much unless we come out and beat them on Sunday.”
Cone also mentioned that what drove Purefoods to pound the ball more in Game 1 was Alaska’s ability to slice big margins easily.
“We’re so focused because we know how good they are coming back from 20-point deficits. Their bounce back-ability is very high, and for them, for sure they’re gonna use this as a motivation.” (RL)
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