After absorbing an embarrassing 92-118 loss to the Star Hotshots in Game One of their quarterfinals series, disappointment was visible in the face of Rain or Shine head coach Caloy Garcia. But outside of the result, he was more disappointed with one of his players.
“I think it’s more on the mental. I think we prepared well but some players did not come to play and are not just focused enough,” Garcia lamented.
And one of the players he was referring to was their third overall pick in the 2015 Draft, Maverick Ahanmisi.
Ever since Paul Lee was traded to the Star Hotshots during the off-season, Ahanmisi has been pegged as the lead floor general for the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.
The 25-year-old floor general is averaging 22.0 minutes per contest for Rain or Shine this season, starting nine of their 23 games. However, Ahanmisi did not even play a single minute in the game.
According to Garcia, the Filipino-Nigerian did not attend the team’s practice yesterday, only notifying the team that he had a bum stomach when the practice had ended.
“I told him that since he did not go to practice yesterday, we did not want to take a gamble.
“Masama daw yung tiyan niya, but still it’s not an excuse for him to be absent,” Garcia furthered.
Ahanmisi’s absence ruined the guard rotation of the Elasto Painters, forcing Mike Tolomia and Chris Tiu to play extended minutes.
“He could have helped us more in our guard rotation,” Garcia said, hoping that this will be a wake-up call to the slumping sophomore.
