KIA Picanto head coach Ricky Dandan was pissed off as soon as he came out of his team’s locker room at the SMART Araneta Coliseum, following the Picanto’s 76-95 loss to the Blackwater Elite on Friday evening that booted them out of playoff contention.
“We gave up,” said the long-time strategist, lamenting the lackluster effort his wards showed, that turned a close affair into a one-sided show come the second half, where the Elite found their groove and never looked back.
“Wala namang iba [dahilan]. Yun lang ang rason doon,” Dandan continued. “Even if it we are out of the playoffs, we talked about ending this conference on a good note.
“We were in there [in the game], but we gave up.”
But what made Dandan even more disappointed was their failure to give team manager Joe Lipa something to smile about. The basketball figure is grieving right now, as his wife had passed away just last night.
“Of course we wanted to dedicate this game to [her] but it didn’t happen,” Dandan lamented.
The Picanto’s 2018 Philippine Cup campaign will be ending in yet another disappointment. But Dandan doesn’t want to set his sights in the next conference yet, but he has already seen what needs to be done.
“Yes, [pero] tapusin muna natin ‘to [Philippine Cup]. Dalawang laro pa eh,” said the former college coach.
“And we’ll sit down with management after this conference and talk about what to do in the next conference.”
