It’s definitely not easy to play two games in three days. Stanley Pringle knows it all too well.
After earning a wire-to-wire 99-84 victory over the TNT Katropa this past Wednesday, the GlobalPort Batang Pier lost their steam on Friday night and eventually bowed to a well-rested Magnolia Hotshots, 81-96, at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“We just played forty-eight hours ago and they didn’t,” lamented the Filipino-American scorer. “We were tired.
“We already knew going into this game that it was going to be tough, so we really just focused on us.”
Exhaustion truly took its toll even on Pringle. After firing 16 points and 10 rebounds last Wednesday, the six-foot-one combo guard was limited to his conference-low five points.
Despite this, Pringle still stuck to some positives in the loss. The 30-year-old lauded the way his team played especially in the first half and early in the third canto, where they even went up by eight points, 53-45.
“We played good,” Pringle, a nine-year pro, said.
“For a team that has played back-to-back against a team that is rested, it is hard to win the game.”
Moreover, the Batang Pier still remain in playoff contention, as they have forced a three-way logjam in the eighth spot of the team standings. However, Pringle pointed out that GlobalPort’s sights aren’t set on the next round — yet.
“We’re just focusing on the next two games. We’re not even looking in the playoffs yet,” said Pringle, who is averaging 21.2 points and 7.9 rebounds.
“We just want to focus on the next game and the next game, Kia then Phoenix.”
