Frustrated fans of the Philippine Men’s National Basketball Team had organized a protest that will culimate inside the SMART Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday at 3:00 PM.
The fans wanted to hijack the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals game between Chot Reyes’ TNT and Converge.
Though completely shut off social media, Reyes, who is also the head coach and program director of Gilas Pilipinas Men, was warned about it.
And he was bracing for the worst.
“I prepared myself emotionally and mentally if it does happen.”
Reyes said that the TNT players had also been talking about it during practice.
And according to him, it inspired the Tropang Giga to start off strong and blow away the FiberXers right from the get-go.
“I think that’s one of the reasons why they played that well,” he said after TNT’s 116-95 rout of Converge to advance to the semis.
There were no fans who chanted “Chot, resign!” in the venue though. Neither were there placards calling for his head.
The game went on smoothly without a hitch.
Though Reyes knows that fans are disappointed — especially after Gilas’ disappointing silver finish in the 31st Southeast Asian Games, he calls for patience.
“This is my fifth month in the program. We are in a period of transition. In any transition, when things are going well, if there’s a transition, there’s a change. You will expect things to get worst first before it gets better. Ganun naman talaga lagi sa buhay, sa trabaho, sa basketball, sa sports. That’s why we are asking for everyone’s continued support and patience,” he said.
“I’ve taken full responsibility and accountability for everything that happened so far. Again, huge appreciation to President Al for his statement. But again, let’s stick and adhere to the main message of Mr. [Al] Panlilio which is, ‘Let’s all unite and let’s all come together to make sure that we have the best team possible for 2023.'”
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.</e
