GlobalPort, Mahindra begin road to redemption
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A glimpse of how Mahindra and GlobalPort set off on their road to redemption should be known Friday when they kick off their Oppo-PBA Commissioner’s Cup campaign at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Both the Enforcers and Batang Pier are eager to bounce back from a sorry Philippine Cup campaign which saw the former failing to make it past the eliminations for the fourth time in as many conferences with the league and the latter failing to sustain their momentum from the quarterfinals.
GlobalPort upended Barangay Ginebra with a one-point overtime win and celebrated a first-ever semifinals stint with a 14-point surprise over heavy favorite Alaska, only to lose four straight to the Aces.
Their respective reinforcements should help the protagonists in their respective bid to move forward.
GlobalPort coach Pido Jarencio declined from saying anything much about his import in Brian Williams, a 6-9 banger who led San Miguel Beer to the ABL title in 2013.
“Okay lang,” said Jarencio on the eve of the game, before adding: “Bukas natin malalaman.”
The Batang Pier’s offense is expected to be led anew by Terrence Romeo and Stanley Pringle, but Jarencio wants his charges to play both ends of the floor consistently. “Mahindra is a good team,” he said. “We have to play hard offensively and defensively.”
Expected to anchor the GlobalPort defense are Billy Mamaril, Doug Kramer, Dorian Pena and Rico Maierhofer while Keith Jensen and Joseph Yeo should help ease the scoring load off Romeo and Pringle.
Chito Victolero, who calls the shots for Mahindra in lieu of playing-coach Manny Pacquiao, is pinning his hopes most on Augustus Gilchrist in the Enforcers’ bid to avoid the listless start they had in the season-opener.
Gilchrist, listed at 6-10 and taken in when last year’s import Hamady N’Diaye proved unavailable, is a former University of Southern Florida Bull who has played in Italy, Hungary and the NBA D-League, is coming off a stint in Cyprus.
“We want to start strong sana because it’s a short conference and iyung format medyo masikip,” said Victolero of the 11-game elimination round.
“Against GlobalPort we need to tighten our perimeter defense and also we need to give extra effort defending their import kasi veteran import iyun. He knows how to play in the big leagues.”
That is where the likes of Karl Dehesa, LA Revilla, Aldrech Ramos and Bradwyn Guinto should come in.
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