There were a lot at stake for this conference’s Manila Clasico game.
The Magnolia Hotshots, who were coming off a huge 111-89 win over TNT last Wednesday, needed a win to gain cushion to boost their playoff chances. On the other hand, the Barangay Ginebra Kings had to win this rivalry just to gain leverage to crack the top eight.
Something had to give. Unfortunately for Chito Victolero and the Hotshots, it was them who caved in.
After keeping close and even gaining a lead over the Gin Kings, Magnolia suffered breakdowns on the defensive end. Ginebra was able to exploit this by heading to the stripe 26 times — converting on 21 of their attempts that led to an 84-104 loss.
“I think merong factor ‘yung breakdown namin sa depensa. On the second half, ‘yung discipline namin, there’s a lot of breakdowns sa defense noong second half, kaya medyo malaki ‘yung score,” lamented the second-year Hotshots head coach.
“That’s not our identity eh.
“We want to have 90 points and below, so we have a chance, but they scored 104 points. I think ‘yun lang, kailangan lang namin sigurong i-correct ang mga mistakes namin sa defense,” he furthered.
With a 4-5 record — which is still good for seventh place, the Hotshots badly need to take their games against NLEX (July 4) and San Miguel (July 7). That is why Victolero is preaching that they should play both of their games with a huge sense of urgency.
“At least ano naman, last game namin do or die, ngayong game namin, do or die din. Our next game, we will treat it as also a do or die.
“So ‘yung effort naman, nandiyan lahat eh. I think ‘yung discipline lang namin. Iko-correct namin ‘yun. Ang maganda, we have a chance pa naman. It’s still in our hands, so we just try to prepare hard for our next game. I think we have a lot of time kasi it’s a 17-day break sa amin. We just try to prepare hard for our next game,” he closed.
