When asked if he had seen anything new with the way the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons ran their system on Saturday afternoon, second-year La Salle head coach Aldin Ayo shrugged, saying that Paul Desiderio and the Fighting Maroons have been running the same sets since they had faced each other in Davao last March.
“Wala namang ginawang bago, ginawa na sa amin ni Desiderio yun sa Davao,” shared Ayo as Desiderio picked up his career-high of 30 points, spiked by five triples during the third frame of UP’s 98-87 win.
So what has plagued the Green Archers in the past two games that saw their energy drop after emphatic first frames?
Ayo, a champion head coach in both the NCAA and the UAAP, did not cite Ben Mbala’s return to the team last Wednesday. It’s more of the Green Archers not being able to execute his game plan that helped them in their strong starts.
“When Ben hit those four threes during the first quarter, I told the team don’t be fooled by the score,” Ayo revealed, as La Salle had been up by as much as 14 points in the opening frame of the game.
“We were up but we knew we haven’t executed anything yet during that particular situation and I told the boys to really stick to the game plan.”
According to the youthful mentor, La Salle’s current problem is not on the offensive end. What he pointed out is how they were not able to execute their press well, giving up high score lines against UP and against the National University in their second game of the season.
“The problem is some of the players were not responding, they were complacent, complacent talaga.
“Problema namin depensa, sa offense naman nakakabalik kami dun sa breakdown kaagad. Instead of executing our schemes we tend to rely on our individual capabilities,” rued Ayo.
Fortunately for the Green Archers, they have a week to regain their identity before returning to the hard court.
