Rain or Shine head coach Caloy Garcia lamented that his team relied too much on import Joel Wright early, causing the Elasto Painters to fall behind to the NorthPort Batang Pier in their 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup encounter on Friday.
“I think what happened in the beginning was we went to Joel too much, and I was telling the players that it’s not how we play. Our offense is basically sharing the ball. I told the locals not to make him the first option,” said Garcia.
“We want the ball movement first before we go to the import,” he added, as Wright had 12 points in the first half.
Garcia also admitted that Wright’s eagerness to play didn’t help. Friday marked his first game back in the PBA in three years, or since he played for the Star Hotshots in the 2016 edition of the season-ending conference.
“I think at the beginning of the game, he wanted to make an impact right away. I think nanggigigil din siya,” he said. “The last time he played here was 2016 and it was a good conference for him. He actually had good stats that year.
“I told him to focus more on the game than complaining, because he’s not going to get those calls if he’s the one looking for contact. I just told him to play the way he did during the tuneup games because he was really playing good.”
Fortunately, his import — and the rest of the Elasto Painters — kept Garcia’s reminders in mind. His charges played better in the second half, even giving the opposition a major scare.
Rain or Shine had been down by as much as 24 points, 46-70, during the third quarter. But they stormed back in the payoff period, knocking within just three points, 94-97, after a Ping Exciminiano layup with 4.9 seconds left to play.
Unfortunately, the comeback fell short. Robert Bolick canned his free throws just seconds later to finish the match, 99-94.
Still, despite the tough defeat, Garcia remains happy with the performances of his players. He said they can carry the momentum from their fightback to their next game on Sunday versus the Columbian Dyip.
“We fell short, but for me, the positive thing was how we fought back in the fourth quarter. We can carry that into the next game,” said the veteran bench tactician. “At least, we know that there is a positive thing.”
But if they really want to enter the win column versus the Dyip (1-0), Garcia said that they should work on making their shots from the charity stripe. The Elasto Painters missed 13 of the 38 shots they were rewarded.
“If we want to win games, we have to make free throws.”
