NLEX’s Don Trollano. –PBA PHOTOS SMALL
NLEX coach Yeng Guiao has seen Blackwater’s significant improvement this season.
“Actually, I’m like a fan of them now after the progress they’ve made,” admits Guiao. “From a string of failures like now, they’re really doing something extraordinary so you have to respect that.”
But Guiao mixed that respect with a bit of desperation and a lot of effort from his undistinguished Road Warriors and gave Bossing a stark reminder of their not-so-distant dark times. .
‘Get ready to be strong’
NLEX tore the net of Blackwater, 98-68, in their Philippine Cup PBA match Friday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City to start the playoffs back in high form.
“We are ready a lot [for them], put a lot of effort into the preparation. In our opinion, we have studied their plays very carefully. This is desperation,” said the fiery coach shortly after the match that sent NLEX back to the .500 mark and now own 7th place in the race to the quarterfinals. only two points in the first quarter.
“We really try to deny Blackwater any rhythm or momentum because once you do, it means trouble,” Guiao said of the defensive effort that matched the all-time tournament record. era with the least score in a quarter.
And the Road Warriors just kept pounding. Don Trollano and Calvin Oftana took the lead, finishing with 16 and 15 points respectively for NLEX, the team in need of firepower. Without Kiefer Ravena, the Road Warriors had to rest star guard Kevin Alas due to a hamstring problem.
Season
For Blackwater, the loss is truly alarming. And not because of that, the team has lost three games in a row. After all, with a score of 5-4, Blackwater is still half a game ahead of NLEX on the leaderboard.
Given the fact that NLEX has made the team look silly, Bossing resembles the team they’re trying to erase from their memory in this season’s supposedly revamped campaign — the team has gone through a league record of 29 consecutive losses.
No player has scored double numbers for Blackwater, with Yousef Taha leading the scoring march with 9 points and 9 rebounds. Ato Ular, the rookie picked in the second round who’s been making headlines lately, finished with just eight points, the same number as Baser Amer, who put his opponents to sleep in the past with his blows. kill people.
Meanwhile, NLEX will attempt to move away from dangerous seventh and into the best of the three when it engages NorthPort on July 21.
“We will treat it like a championship match. Maybe prepare the same way we did with Blackwater. Maybe more because we’ll have some days off — more than a week I think,” Guiao said.
The 7th and 8th places will play against the top two teams in the quarterfinals, with those teams protected by double-beat incentives. Teams in 3 to 6 positions will battle it out in a series of races for two.
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