Converge head coach Aldin Ayo hinted at changes following Jamaal Franklin’s mysterious showing in their loss to Ginebra in the PBA Governors’ Cup, Sunday.
Easily one of the conference’s most prolific performers, the former NBA cager scored just four points on five attempts as the FiberXers absorbed a 120-101 beatdown, ending their elimination round campaign with three straight losses.
“For sure, there will be changes,” he told reports moments after the defeat at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.
“‘Di ko pa masasabi kung ano ‘yon, kung anong definite na decision. But for sure, there will be changes.
“It’s not my decision to make. It will be the decision of the management,” added the rookie mentor, who’s in his second PBA conference.
Many were left perplexed with the way Franklin played, considering that he was coming off a triple-double outing in an overtime loss to Meralco just last Friday that saw him tally 57 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists.
Ayo was just as confused, since he had seen the former CBA import take an average of 23.1 attempts for 37.3 points prior to Sunday’s game.
“It’s either he takes 36,” said the youthful shot-caller, in reference to Franklin’s attempts versus the Bolts, “or he takes five.
“Ano ba talaga?”
Ayo, though, admitted that he was hardly surprised since he already had quite an inkling that it would happen based on their previous games.
“Medyo na-surprise ako. Pero, may mga precedence na e,” he said. “‘Yung mga games namin before against Blackwater, kita niyo naman ‘yung body language don. And, there were games also na ganon.
“Well, at the back of my mind, parang andun lang ‘yun, na baka gawin din nito. Pero the instruction was really maglaro lang sa sistema e. Ganun lang din naman. Pero… I don’t know. I don’t know what happened.”
Ayo just chose to look at the positives of the loss to the reigning, particularly glad about how the locals applied what they’d worked on prior to the tilt.
“Wala akong masabi sa locals,” he said. “Wala akong masabi sa mga locals. Yung tinrabaho namin nung Christmas break and nung New Year’s break, nandun pa rin. Siguro may mga konting adjustments na lang.”
With that, Converge’s (6-5) morale still remains high even if the team will be heading into the playoffs in the midst of a three-game skid — and even if it no longer has any chance for a twice-to-beat advantage — added Ayo.
“Our goal really was to make it to the playoffs, which we did. Pero siyempre everybody wants to get the Top Four spot because of the twice-to-beat advantage. But at least we still have a chance,” he said.
“Even though we lost three consecutive games, yung morale namin nandoon pa rin naman, mataas pa rin naman yung morale because alam namin kung anong problema — even the locals, alam nila kung anong problema. And ‘yung problema na ‘yun, magagawan ng paraan,” Ayo continued.
“Ang masakit kasi, ‘yung natatalo ka na hindi mo alam ‘yung tumatama sa’yo. Mahirap ‘yun. Pero ito, natatalo kami, alam namin ‘yung problema.”
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
