NLEX bracing for healthy GlobalPort side
PBA IMAGES
The NLEX Road Warriors don’t want to be caught flat-footed and thus, they assume they’re playing the GlobalPort Batang Pier with a complete, tough cast.
Coach Boyet Fernandez and his troops brace for war versus the GlobalPort side that include Terrence Romeo, Stanley Pringle and import Shawn Taggart.
“With a complete lineup, GlobalPort is a tough team to beat. We have to be consistent on our defensive effort just like what we did versus Blackwater,” said Fernandez ahead of their crucial setto in the Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Friday.
“We have to double our effort so that we can limit the combined offensive power of Romeo, Pringle and Taggart,” Fernandez also said. “But it’s easier said than done. We really have to be consistent if we want to win the game and give ourselves a chance to enter the quarters”
The Road Warriors try to pile up their stocks in the Magic Eight while the Batang Pier fight for survival in their 7 p.m. tiff.
On an up-and-down ride, NLEX (4-4) seeks a follow-up its 88-75 conquest of Blackwater to get into the threshold of the quarterfinal round.
On a tremendous downward spiral since the ouster of Pringle and Romeo, GlobalPort (2-6) needs to sweep its last three games against NLEX, Rain or Shine and Phoenix to have a shot at the post-elims play.
GlobalPort officials have earlier said Romeo, the scoring leader among all local players, is out for the rest of the conference due to a calf strain.
The Batang Pier, however, are likely to come out with a lot of emotion as they play with their back against the wall and with coach Pido Jarencio grieving with the passing of his father Benedicto.
It could well be a dog fight.
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