Kiefer Ravena held himself accountable for the loss his NLEX suffered in the hands of Ginebra San Miguel in the 2020 PBA Philippine Cup resumption, Sunday night.
“Started the game flat personally and I felt like I let the team down, especially as one of the leaders in the team,” the young floor general lamented the morning after their 92-102 defeat.
Things actually appeared to go Ravena’s way when he made a three-pointer that put his Road Warriors up six, 16-10, with 7:24 remaining in the opening period, but it went otherwise.
The 26-year-old eventually finished with just six points on 2-of-8 shooting from the field, four rebounds, and three assists against a pair of turnovers in over 31 minutes of play.
“First game, very disappointing. Coach [Yeng Guiao] always talked about accountability. For me, that’s the biggest takeaway from our first game,” said the second overall pick in the 2018 PBA Rookie Draft.
Ravena is totally aware of the responsibility he has with NLEX as one of its leaders, and being such, he said, is something which he aims to work on even further as the season goes.
“I guess that’s one thing that I have to really focus on in a fast tournament such as what we have now,” said Ravena as the tourney is arranged to be done in two months’ time.
“Talked to the team, told them I couldn’t play and start like that — they look up to me at some point, being one of the leaders of the team nga.”
And the second-generation cager, who was signed to a three-year max extension last September, vowed as well that such an outing will never happen again in the future.
“I’ll make sure it won’t happen again for the rest of the tournament.”
