SUBIC — Davao Occidental-Cocolife was preparing for its Chooks-to-Go MPBL South Division Finals decider against Basilan-Jumbo Plastic for almost two weeks now in the Subic bubble.
The two squads were scheduled to fight for the last National Finals ticket tomorrow, March 17, at the Subic Bay Gymnasium.
But what a rollercoaster Tuesday the MPBL had.
Coming off a seven-day quarantine due to two players testing positive a week ago, the Steel re-swabbed on Monday.
Early Tuesday, league commissioner Kenneth Duremdes said four members of the Basilan team turned out positive from the re-swab. That activated the condition set by MPBL that if even one test comes back positive, Game Three will not take place and the Tigers will win the South title by default.
All of a sudden, Davao will be having its dream National Finals rematch against San Juan-Go for Gold, later at 4 pm.
Speaking on Tiebreaker Vodcast’s Crossover: Inside the Chooks-to-Go MPBL bubble, head coach Don Dulay explained that with little to no time of preparation, they will be banking on the history between them and the defending champion to fuel their fire in Game One.
“We just gotta go by history… I told my team today we’re blessed to be in this position because this is all we wanted, just a rematch with San Juan.”
“Start ng season looking forward kami talaga na makabalik kami sa National Finals. Laking motivation din talaga yung natalo kami sa Game Five especially sa [Davao] yun. Motivation talaga namin yun,” seconded sparkplug Joseph Terso.
Last season, the Knights edged out Davao at their home turf in the do-or-die Game Five, 87-86, to take home the Datu Cup trophy.
For Terso, the first game of the national finals will be hard since they only have two hours of on-court preparation against San Juan.
But he feels reassured that despite the limited time, there will be plenty of chances since the finals is a best-of-five affair.
“It’s gonna be hard for sure, pero nag-prepare pa rin naman kami kahit papaano. Kanina lang din talaga. It’s not just one game (lang naman) — it’s still a five-game series,” said the 5-foot-10 combo guard.
“It’s gonna be a war.”
According to Dulay, though, his team is not the only one lacking preparation heading into Game One. San Juan wasn’t also sure who they would play in the Finals until this noon.
“It’s the same thing for San Juan. They were waiting for those results as well, they didn’t know who they’re gonna play, they couldn’t prepare as well.”
However, Dulay said his team will be hungrier, especially against their tormentor last year.
Making it much more special was 2019 Finals MVP Mike Ayonayon coming back for one last dance for the Knights.
“For Mike coming back, it just gives us extra energy because it wouldn’t have been the same if he weren’t there. Now that he’s there, he kind of brings back that finals rematch,” said the 40-year-old tactician.
“It should be an extra boost (for my guys). He scored 33 points in Game Five (of the Datu Cup Finals), I would want that challenge. If I don’t see him in the finals, I would be disappointed, so it’s exciting that he’s back.”
