Not even Hong Kong Eastern got spared by the notorious Friday of December traffic jam in Manila.
The PBA’s guest team alighted the bus then headed straight to the warmups as they almost came in late for their Commissioner’s Cup duel versus TNT.
It’s because Eastern braved through nearly three hours of traffic from their hotel in Cubao all the way to the Ninoy Aquino Stadium for the 7:30 p.m. game.
It was actually their third game at the venue located in Malate but Coach Mensur Bajramovic said that it’s their first time to come in late for a match.
“The first game, we came normally, you know,” he said, referring to their meeting against Converge last November 29 which they won, 117-106.
“We had a lot of time before [the game]. Second game, was a little bit late. But in this game, we came straight to the warmup,” added the Bosnian mentor.
Eastern, though, managed to utilize the time they got nearly stuck in traffic as they already did some pre-game essentials such as ankle taping for players.
“We were already taping and dressing in the bus,” Bajramovic said.
The visiting team, though, was hardly affected by the way they played, turning in a big second half to deal the debuting Tropang Giga a 105-84 beating.
Veteran import Cameron Clark starred with 36 points and 14 rebounds.
Bay Area boys Hayden Blankley and Glen Yang had 24 and 19, respectively, as the trio flexed their PBA experience despite the situation Eastern got into.
More importantly, it was their third win in four games, finding redemption as well after losing to Rain or Shine by way of a 99-81 result just last Wednesday.
But more than the result, it’s really the lesson they learned before the match that proved to be the main takeaway for the whole crew this Friday night.
“Now, we know Manila very well,” Bajramovic said with a smile.
