Phoenix Pulse head coach Louie Alas had no issues with his Fuel Masters’ offense versus the TNT KaTropa in their 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup clash on Wednesday night.
His chargers put up 118 points, a commendable feat since the Texters had only allowed their opponents to score an average of 99.0 points in their last two games.
The seasoned mentor’s problem was with their breakdowns on defense, which proved costly.
Those lapses allowed the KaTropa to shoot an impressive 60-percent from the three-point line. TNT then used that hot shooting from deep to take down the Fuel Masters, 118-123.
“Simple breakdown defensively resulting in sixty-percent on three-points. ‘Di mo matatalo ‘yun,” said Alas. “Offensively, wala naman kaming problema.
“‘Yung breakdown lang namin sa depensa.”
The defeat was more disappointing for the outspoken bench strategist since the team has full control of their defense, but they still collapsed.
“Yun ang things within our control and yet hindi namin ma-control. We’re very, very young in terms of defense,” said Alas, who’s now in his second season as Phoenix’s chief tactician.
Alas even specified play they could’ve contained, like the one that enabled Roger Pogoy to knock down three three-pointers from the top of the arc in the final frame.
”Yung kay Pogoy — three times yun. That was a flare screen at the top of the key,” he recalled. “Easily we could switch that, pero ‘di namin magawa.
“Sabi ko nga sa kanila lack of concentration.”
The loss dropped the Fuel Masters to 1-3. Now, for Alas, it’s time for them to go back to the drawing board.
‘I don’t know what to say, pero andun yung effort. Baka yung technique, baka yung mechanics mali. We need to go back to the drawing board,” he said.
“We need to stay focused defensively.”
