TWO stints in the semifinals and one in the quarterfinals should be good enough, right?
Not for Magnolia coach Chito Victolero, who said his team failed to live up to expectations in the PBA’s 47th season.
“We had at least a so-so season, a good but not great season. We had two semifinals stints, and one quarterfinals,” Victolero said after the Hotshots absorbed a numbing 107-133 overtime loss to Meralco last Wednesday night that sent them packing in the Governors’ Cup.
“We didn’t miss the playoffs, but again, ang pinag-uusapan naman natin dito is going to the finals. (In) 2021-22, we had one finals appearance. But now, we missed the finals of the three conferences,” he added.
Magnolia wound up with a 7-4 mark after the eliminations of the season-ending tourney after a 0-3 start for fifth, but the No. 4 and twice-to-beat Bolts’ endgame fightback spelled doom for the Hotshots.
“Ang reminders ng coaches, if you face an elite team like Meralco, which is sila naman talaga sa dulo– the Ginebras, the San Miguels, the Talk N Texts, you have to make sure you’re ready to play for 48 minutes,” Victolero said,
“You have to minimize the breakdowns. If not, iyon iyong mangyayari. We had a good, good execution down the stretch, iyon siguro, iyong last one minute and a half, doon kami parang nawala.”
Magnolia reached the Last Four of the Philippine and Commissioner’s Cups but both times fell to TNT and Ginebra, respectively.
For now, Victolero and his wards will ponder what went wrong in their campaign and let the wounds heal and hope they learn their lessons and put them to heart.
“We’ll take a rest for three weeks siguro then we will be back maybe in the third week of April, preparation for the preseason coming this May. Iyon lang muna. We’ll just try to heal the wounds, everything, the pain. Masakit,” he said. “Very painful, because we had a chance. But again, this is basketball. I told them it’s not yet over, hindi tayo puwedeng mag-celebrate. Hopefully everyone learned from that. We will come back strong next season.”
