ANTIPOLO — Nuni Omot isn’t the problem.
Rather, it’s that old habits die hard.
Head coach LA Tenorio made it clear after Magnolia succumbed to its third defeat in as many outings in the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup, following a shock loss to Sedrick Barefield and Blackwater on Sunday evening.
“It’s not about the import,” he said moments after the 97-91 loss at the Ynares Center here. “The import is doing his share. We’re playing good basketball because of our import.
“What’s happening to us is not all about the import.”
Omot actually played his best game to date since coming to the league. He finished with 38 points — to lead all scorers — behind a 15-of-22 shooting clip from the field, and laced it with seven rebounds and nine assists.
The South Sudanese star has adjusted well with his team and with the league’s style of play, but the fact of the matter remains: he and the Hotshots have fallen deeper in the conference standings with a 0-3 record.
Normally, imports bear the brunt of teams struggling in reinforced conferences. However, Tenorio stressed that the issue isn’t really with Omot, whom the team brought in to replace Terrell Brown-Soares in a last-minute switch.
(C) PBA Images
“That’s what I’m telling my players: The imports, they’re not the magic, or [leads to an] automatic win,” he said.
“The locals dapat mag-share din sila in doing the little things for the import. ‘Di naman puwedeng aasa lang tayo sa import.”
Against the Bossing, only two locals finished in double figures, namely Zavier Lucero and veteran Ian Sangalang. The frontcourt tandem made 15 and 12 points, respectively, and combined for 10 rebounds.
No other player scored over six points for Tenorio’s team. Starting PG Jerom Lastimosa, for one, only had five points, with Mark Barroca adding four. Paul Lee, hardly used once again, went scoreless for the first time in a while.
But making the loss even tougher is the fact that they lost to Blackwater for the first time after eight straight wins in the past. Their opponents also snapped a 12-game losing skid dating back to the Season 50 Philippine Cup.
The culprit, again, was the old habits.
“Masyadong matagal ‘yung habits na meron sila,” offered Tenorio, who’s currently in his second conference as the chief bench tactician of the popular franchise, previously mentored by Chito Victolero for nearly a decade.
But the former PBA star is keeping the faith, still, believing that everything will fall into place. After all, he’s seen how much work his charges have been putting in practice — they just have to translate that into Ws.
“We’ll just keep on working, just telling the players to trust the process,” the 41-year-old Tenorio stated. “Down the road, we’re gonna get our share of wins, as long as we continue working and staying positive about it.
“This is a young team, so what do you expect? ‘Di ba? But what I like about this team is they work hard every day, they’re willing to learn, they’re willing to get better every day, they’re listening.”
Now it’s back to the drawing board for Magnolia, and Tenorio already has one thing on top of their to-do list in gearing up for guest team, Macau Black Knights, whom they will face on March 28 at SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“The bottom line is we really have to focus on defense. We have to have that defensive mindset, and the identity of us playing really good basketball because of our defense,” he said.
