MAGNOLIA emerged from its dugout after the break pondering how to dodge the upset axe poised to be delivered by a hard-fighting Blackwater side last Wednesday night.
Hotshots coach Chito Victolero found the answer–patience–and preached it to his charges, who gamely obliged.
“We talked about the first half where our offense was disrupted because of the defense of Blackwater. We had a lot of turnovers in the first quarter. More turnovers than assists,” Victolero said. “I talked to the guys about execution, moving the ball, finding the open guy, and being smart on the execution kasi disrupted kami.
“Ginawa lang namin was we had more patience on offense, and we wanted to be aggressive on defense para kahit paano, may easy points kami,” he added.
Victolero spoke after his squad eked out an 81-77 victory over the Bossing for their third straight win in the PBA Philippine Cup.
The Hotshots’ performance in the latest of its three-match winning run proved to be in stark contrast to their bitter defeats to the Ginebra Kings 77-87 last March 31 and to the NLEX Road Warriors 74-87 last April 6.
Magnolia is simply regaining its old, fiery form, according to Victolero.
“Our competitiveness, effort, and aggressiveness on both ends of the floor, that’s what we talked about. We had a mindset,” Victolero said. “In that Ginebra game, we were there but collapsed and in the NLEX game, we had bad preparations.
“We needed to have the competitiveness in practice.”
Despite nursing a nagging wrist injury, veteran playmaker Mark Barroca showed the way for the Hotshots with 19 points, five rebounds and three assists, while Paul Lee backed him up with 10 markers, two boards and four dimes.
Ian Sangalang and Calvin Abueva also combined for 20 as Magnolia followed up on its 107-93 ripping of Phoenix five days back and rose to 4-2 for solo third.
Blackwater reeled off its fifth loss in a row, including an 86-105 rout to Ginebra last April 12, and dropped to 3-5.
“Motivation ko na every game and every practice na mag-compete ako kasi ako iyong tao na gusto ko iyong mga challenge siyempre para sa mga bata para makita ko rin hanggang saan pa ako maglalaro,” Barroca said.
“As a leader ipapakita ko sa team na kaya kong mag-compete kahit mayroon akong nararamdaman. As a leader siyempre kailangan mong ipakita iyon para madala mo sila.”
James Kwekuteye paced the Bossing with a season-best 23 points, on top of three caroms and four feeds, while Troy Rosario got 20 and four.
If there’s another lesson Victolero wants to inculcate to his team, it’s guarding against the traps of complacency especially since they will take on the red-hot Rain or Shine Elasto Painters tomorrow, Saturday, in Tiaong, Quezon.
“They are the hottest team. They play very, very well. Grabe iyong inilalaro nila ngayon,” he said. “We just need to prepare hard physically and mentally.”
