LA Tenorio could hardly remember the last time he exited a conference early after Magnolia witnessed the bitter end of its PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup campaign at the hands of TNT in the quarterfinals, Saturday night.
The 41-year-old was left disappointed with the result as the former player turned bench strategist isn’t that used to heading for an early vacation–a predicament he’s gotten into after the Hotshots bowed to the twice-to-beat Tropang 5G.
“Disappointed ako kasi this is my first time after how many years na na-out kaagad ako sa quarterfinals. I don’t know when the last time was,” he told reporters after their 118-109 defeat at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
For the record, the last time Tenorio bowed out of the playoffs’ opening round was during the Season 47 Philippine Cup in 2022, when Barangay Ginebra lost to modern-day rivals Meralco in a best-of-3 series that went the full route.
But after that, he and the Kings would become a consistent semis team. They even reached the Finals thrice, highlighted by a championship run in the Season 47 Commissioner’s Cup, where they beat the Bay Area Dragons in seven.
The eight-time titlist was indeed a big part of the crowd darlings’ success since coming on board in 2012, but all that is in the past now, for all his time and effort are presently centered on mentoring one of the league’s most popular teams.
And the ongoing Philippine Cup had served him a lesson on how challenging it could be in assuming one of the most thankless jobs in all of sports.
Tenorio is left with lots of reflections at the end of his maiden conference as a head coach, most especially after admittedly getting out-coached by no less than one of his former mentors in Chot Reyes, during their meetings with TNT.
It was virtually a two-game series between the long-time corporate rivals as they also met in the penultimate game of the elimination round, in which both teams fought for a coveted twice-to-beat advantage for the quarterfinals.
(C) PBA Images
But the luck of the draw pitted the two against one another in the Final Eight. And fast forward to Saturday night, Magnolia found itself losing twice, as last season’s double champions maximized their win-once incentive.
“I just have to take a look at myself first, yung mga kailangan kong i-improve. Definitely against Coach Chot, I was also… if I’m coaching and I didn’t play maybe masasabi ko na-outcoached talaga ako,” he offered.
“Sabi ko nga kay Coach Chot kanina, marami akong natutunan. Not only in today’s game but this conference.”
It was actually a rocky end to the Hotshots’ run. From a promising start that saw them share the lead of the standings, they’d lose four of their last six outings in the preliminaries, including back-to-back coming into the quarters.
Including their recent defeat to the Tropa, the crew finished with three straight losses, which also prolonged the franchise’s semis drought to five conferences.
“Sinabi ko sa kanila na if we want to be one of the best teams here in the PBA, we have to beat the best teams,” said Tenorio.
“For us to do that, we have to beat TNT. We have to beat the best teams–playoff teams.”
In all fairness, Magnolia tried to fight back on Saturday night by chopping a 27-point deficit to single digits to finish the game and that serves as one of the takeaways for Tenorio & Co. when they gear up for the mid-season joust.
“A lot of positives that we can take away from this conference and hopefully when we get back, we’ll get back stronger,” he said. “Sabi ko nga sa kanila, we don’t have any choice. We have to get back stronger. Wala tayong choice.
“If we don’t, then we might as well not join the PBA anymore next conference,” he added.
“‘Yun lang ‘yun, let this be a big lesson for us.”
#WATCH: L.A. Tenorio reflects on his first conference as Magnolia head coach and what the Hotshots need to do moving forward 🏀#ReadMore 👉 https://t.co/LrF89tCdQS
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— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) December 27, 2025
