ROAD WARRIORS BANKING ON DEFENSE
NLEX infused a little more hope in its flailing chances in the 2015 PBA Governors’ Cup by pulling the rug under Blackwater in overtime Friday night.
At 3-7, the Road Warriors’ best chance is to win against Barangay Ginebra San Miguel on Wednesday and pray that the quotient will work in their favor if a logjam ensues for the final spot in the playoffs.
Coach Boyet Fernandez knows the chances might be slim, but he’s wishing that NLEX could unfurl the same tenacity on defense for its final game.
“It’s not in our hands right now even if we won this game,” he said.
Fernandez, though, is positive that the Road Warriors could pull off one more win in the eliminations to give themselves a fighting chance in the quarterfinals.
And he has a reason to, as NLEX fought its way back from 17 points down to shock Blackwater.
“I thank my players. When we’re down, our players stepped up their defense. They just changed the momentum, played solid zone defense and pressed a little bit and we came back,” said Fernandez. “This win is for the players. Even though we’re down, they played really hard. We came back and won.”
“This team is not really good offensively, but we can win games if we really play defense. We’re happy that we got this one,” he said. (RL)
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.