Glen Rice, Jr. did not offer a thorough analysis of the TNT Katropa’s humiliating 94-121 defeat to the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in Game One of their best-of-five semifinal series, Monday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
All that he pointed out was how much he and the Katropa need to play consistent basketball at all times.
“It’s something that we need to continue to work on: consistency,” rued the 26-year-old after the loss. “Because we can’t have one game when we blow somebody out and in the next game we get blown out — doesn’t work like that.
“We got to be consistent.”
It’s easy to see where the second-generation cager is coming from. Rice, Jr. had actually lamented the same thing before, when TNT’s win-once incentive was blown by the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters last September 27.
“I feel just sometimes we bring a little bit of energy and sometimes we don’t. Even in the first game versus Rain or Shine our energy wasn’t the best,” reflected the Florida-native.
“It’s something that we need to continue to work on [too].”
And their inconsistency reflected on the stat sheet. They handled the ball carelessly en route to 22 turnovers, and, furthermore, their defense went loose, allowing Ginebra an excellent 54 percent in shooting.
Still, the former NBA pro — who finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds, but committed seven errors in Game One — is keeping his head high despite the loss, since the semis is still a best-of-five affair.
“That’s the good thing about the playoffs, you got to win, what, best-of-five? That’s three games. It’s not one game and [you’ve] lost — it’s not the NCAA,” said the Georgia Tech product. “We just gotta get back, we gonna watch the film, [and] we’ll talk about it as a team tomorrow.
“We got to figure out a way where we can strive to do, play better on Wednesday.”
