NorthPort sent shockwaves through the league when it beat favorite Barangay Ginebra San Miguel by 34 big points last Saturday, drawing first blood in their 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup best-of-five semifinal series.
Now, however, the Batang Pier have suffered back-to-back lopsided losses — the most recent a 105-132 defeat in Game Three on Wednesday evening that put them behind in the series, 1-2.
Worse, one wrong move in Game Four would now mean the end of their season.
“We’re losing because right now, the last two games, Ginebra was the better team. In every possession, we got beat,” said Christian Standhardinger, who had 20 points and nine rebounds in the loss.
“We caught them on the wrong foot in the first game, but we have to play really, really good to beat them and they have to play really, really bad. They are an amazing team.”
But the Fil-German forward isn’t feeling down. For him, such losses are part of the culture they are building.
Standhardinger has always been vocal about helping NorthPort since his arrival to the team last September, following a trade by the San Miguel Beermen for Mo Tautuaa.
“This is not the time to hang your heads and be like, ‘Oh, we got beat by thirty.’ This is the time to say, ‘Oh my God, I can learn a lot playing this team.’ We can learn a lot by going all-out.
“That is all part of the steps to build a winning culture. That’s not just given, that’s not just right away. It’s a long, long process to become a winning team with a winning culture,” he said.
Ginebra is definitely looking to finish things off in Game Four on Friday, but it is anybody’s ballgame, still. For the well-traveled pro, the only thing he vowed is that NorthPort will give its all.
“The only thing we can do is go all-out, that’s it,” Standhardinger said.
“We just have to keep going as a team.”
