Alaska Aces head coach Alex Compton once again spoke about lack of end-game poise after his team blew a lead and suffered a 105-103 setback in Game Two of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals Sunday night.
“We talked about every second counts and how we needed to make less mistakes and be smarter. Again, to the very end, we have a breakdown and we didn’t execute what we needed to do,” Compton said.
Alaska was still ahead, 79-76 entering the fourth quarter before the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters once again outplayed them in the payoff period.
The Elasto Painters led by as much as 100-91, before the Aces tied it a 103 apiece. However, the Aces let Paul Lee score the game-winning jumper in the end as they failed to clear out.
“It’s not that we played terribly but we did not play smart enough to win. They won both. We have to earn it with a lot more precision, that’s for sure,” Compton added.
Lee got the offensive rebound after Beau Belga missed a triple with only less than three seconds left. No one was near Lee when he got the board, and he made Alaska pay by hitting the buzzer-beating shot.
“When we do some things right, we will win the game. We did not,” Compton said. “We were not sharp enough.”
“It is not like we played terrible in the two games but to earn it in the finals, you have to earn it.”
Moving forward, Compton wants his players to grow fast to avoid letting the series get out of hand.
“They are executing better, we have defensive breakdowns. We have to go out and earn it. They earned it again, twice in a row. Either we get better, steal a game or two, or we play the same. We have to grow real quick,” he said.
