Even if they have won their third straight game coming from a 0-2 start in the 2018 Philippine Cup, Vic Manuel thinks that it’s still not enough to say that the Alaska Aces can be considered as one of the topflight teams in the league.
“Hindi pa rin masabi, kasi lahat ng team ngayon, talagang malalakas na eh, hindi na basta-basta easy yung mga game eh,” said “The Muscleman” Sunday night, after he and the Aces took down the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, 97-83, at the Ynares Center.
The way the Aces have been playing this 2018 is remarkably different from the way they did last 2017, where they raked in more losses than wins. For Manuel, it’s partly because of the team regaining their competitive fire.
“Sa practice pa lang, talagang nakikipag-compete eh. Walang easy kahit sa practice, talagang bigay-todo lahat,” said the 30-year-old, who has been with Alaska since 2014.
“Sobrang aggressive, kaya yun, nadadala namin sa game.”
It also helps that the Milkmen have been healthy so far this season, unlike last year where they had been unable to field a complete line-up in almost every outing. Manuel knows it too well, as he had been injury-plagued last season.
“Yung injury ko talaga, hindi madali eh, kasi sa tuhod talaga, sa left knee,” said the six-foot-four forward from Nueva Ecija. “So pinu-push nila ako kung ano ang kailangan ko gawin. Ayun, nagbubunga naman lahat.”
Now, eyes are on the Aces if they can keep their streak going. And for Manuel — who led the Aces with 18 points and five rebounds against the Gin Kings — all they need to do is to sustain what they have right now in their next games.
“Kailangan every game, focused pa rin kami, mas maging aggressive kami,” he said.
“Kung anong mga ginagawa namin nitong mga last three games namin, kailangan dalhin pa namin sa mga susunod naming games.”
Apologies to LA Tenorio
After the bout, Manuel had actually planned to approach Ginebra’s star point guard LA Tenorio regarding the spat they had figured in late in the third quarter, after the former undercut the much bigger Manuel near the rim.
But Manuel made it clear that he wasn’t going after Tenorio to get back at him. All that he wanted to do was to apologize, as he found out that Tenorio was just trying to help him get back up and not trying to instigate something.
“Sabi niya, ‘bakit mo ako binigyan? Itatayo na nga kita eh.’ Nahiya din ako sa kanya. Magso-sorry sana ako, eh wala eh, lumayo na siya eh,” Manuel shared with a chuckle.
“Lalapitan ko sana eh, pero umalis agad.”
That incident was just one of the many things that frustrated Tenorio. Aside from absorbing their second straight loss, he couldn’t get things going, as he only scored five on a dismal 1-of-13 shooting from the floor.
“Magandang bonus din sa’min yun kasi medyo masama yung nilaro niya,” said Manuel.
“Swerte na lang siguro kami.”
