“Masarap sana pumasok pero respect sa diskarte nila.”
13-year league veteran and surefire Hall of Famer James Yap was limited to his conference-low 13 minutes against the San Miguel Beermen, Friday evening. And his minutes all came in the first half.
“Diskarte ni coach eh, di ko rin alam kung bakit,” Yap pondered. “Siguro baka bago pa ako, and yung sistema sa ngayon mas may tiwala pa siya sa mga old players niya pagdating sa end game.
“For me, it’s okay. Diskarte niya [coach Caloy Garcia], walang problema sa akin.”
During his limited stint, Yap went just 1-for-3 from the field and was forced to commit three turnovers. Moreover, according to Rain or Shine’s mentor, he wanted an up-tempo game to negate the half-court sets of the Beermen.
“I was looking to, [but] medyo gusto ko tumakbo kanina,” Garcia remarked. “I wanted to try to get San Miguel tired, and since we were playing well – Gabe [Norwood] was playing the three and four position just to change the tempo of the game, and it was working, so I just stuck to the people who were really working hard on both sides.”
Rain or Shine’s running game worked well for spurts as they were able to keep pace with the league-leaders. However, June Mar Fajardo and the Beermen still proved to be too much, taking a 107-101 overtime win to drop Rain or Shine to a deadlock with Globalport in the standings.
The competitor in Yap hoped that he was in the court especially in the clutch moments. However, he stressed that he has to respect his coach’s game plan and it’s him who needs to adjust to Rain or Shine’s system.
“Masarap sana pumasok pero siyempre respect yung diskarte niya. Sayang panalo na,” the two-time league MVP said.
“Equal oppurtunity kasi sa team na ‘to so for me parang I didn’t expect na mag-35 minutes ako rito. Kailangan ready ako doon at kailangan tanggapin ko yun kasi nanalo naman ang team. Ayoko naman sirain yung sistema nila kapag nag demand ako ng playing time, kailangan ako yung mag-adapt sa sistema.”
And with the conference entering its closing stages, Yap vows to stay ready and remain steadfast for the good of the team.
“Siyempre bago pa lang sa team, di ko matantiya kung ano yung diskarte pero I’m okay,” the Negros Occcidental-native furthered. “Ganun naman ako, hahayaan ko yung coach na dumiskarte ng sarili kasi siyempre siya yung coach. Ayoko naman i-insist sarili ko na ipasok.
“Basta ako ready lang ako.”
Garcia, on the other hand, will try to give Yap added exposure in their next outings.
“Sa case naman ni James, we’ll try to get him more involved in the next game,” the first-year mentor said.
