THIS is not unchartered territory–top seed Magnolia made short work of eight-ranked TNT two nights back to bag a semifinals slot in the season-opening conference, something the Hotshots are used to.
What Magnolia coach Chito Victolero wants is for his charges to go all the way to the Promised Land.
“We’re always here. Every conference, we’re consistently here. Hopefully this time, we can go all the way,” Victolero said after the twice-to-beat Hotshots mauled the Tropang Giga 109-94 in their PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals duel. “But it is very hard. We need to prepare hard for the next series. Wala pa kaming na-a-achieve dito.
“I want my players to stay in the present, make sure that we have that mental preparation, and experience namin from previous seasons, previous conferences, nandito kami,” he added.
The runaway win enabled Magnolia to advance to the semis of the season-opening tourney opposite the winner of No. 4 Phoenix and fifth seed Meralco.
The Bolts negated the Fuel Masters’ win-once incentive with a hard-earned 116-107 triple overtime triumph also last Wednesday and forged a sudden death this Sunday, Jan. 21, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Victolero was on the edge of his chair at the Hotshots’ dugout watching Meralco and Phoenix give their everything in the three-OT classic that explains why he’s careful what he wishes for.
“It is hard to choose. The important thing is that we’ll be able to prepare well. Both teams are deserving,” Victolero, whose team made up for an 80-85 loss to Meralco last Jan. 6 in Iloilo, said. “They played well. Nobody wanted to lose. We all saw that they have character. That is playoff basketball. Nobody gave up even if there were cramps and everything.
“We’ll see which team we’ll face. It is hard to prepare when things are uncertain.”
TNT failed to sustain the resolve it showed in a 116-96 whipping of Phoenix last Sunday and kissed goodbye to its title dreams after a campaign marred by injuries to its key players.
Under Victolero, Magnolia last won it all in the 2018 Governors’ Cup against the defunct Alaska franchise behind reinforcement Romeo Travis, a high school teammate and good pal of LeBron James.
The Hotshots now are being led by an NBA draft pick in do-it-all import Tyler Bey, who scattered game-highs of 41 points and 13 rebounds, to go with two assists.
Mark Barroca chipped in 17 markers, two boards, and three dimes, while Ian Sangalang and Calvin Abueva had 12 each for Magnolia.
Their stinging defeat to the Bolts did wonders for the Hotshots, according to Victolero.
“It builds our character, especially when we talked about our last game, the Meralco game which was the start of our playoff game,” he said. “We learned a lot from that, especially our import, he learned about the physicality of the game and how to play in the playoffs.
“Good thing we had at least 10, 11 days before this game and lahat noong adjustment, lahat noong kulang namin, gagawan namin (ng paraan).”
Reinforcement Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson carried the fight for TNT with 27 points, nine caroms, and 11 feeds, while Calvin Oftana added 20 and six.
Roger Pogoy and rookie Kim Aurin also got 17 and 13 markers, respectively, for the Tropang Giga.
With an able import and a healthy local crew, Magnolia has the pieces to get the job done and it’s only a matter of showing it wants it more than the rest of the opposition.
