It’s back to the drawing board now for NLEX after what was once a promising PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup campaign ended disastrously on Sunday.
The Road Warriors found themselves swept by Meralco in Game 2 of their quarterfinal series. And Robert Bolick could only lament the discrepancy in experience between the two MVP Group-owned teams, which ultimately led to their elimination.
“Wala, experience prevailed,” he told reporters moments after their 100-81 defeat at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum. “Yung team na yun well-oiled machine, well-coached. Ganun talaga. Kami, we need experience.”
Inexperience has cost NLEX a lot in this all-Filipino conference. The team at one point sat at no. 2 in the standings with a 5-1 record, becoming the first to collect that many wins.
In comparison, the top-seed San Miguel was just 4-0 back then.
Those circumstances made Coach Frankie Lim’s wards a favorite for a top-two finish, which comes with a coveted win-once incentive in the quarters.
The fact alone that they got to five wins that fast made many optimistic that the team could be an early entrant into the playoffs’ first round, since teams, historically, need six wins to assure themselves of a spot.
But all of a sudden, the losses piled up. The Road Warriors lost to TNT, Phoenix, San Miguel, and Rain or Shine before ending the skid against the 2-seed Ginebra to catch one of the last trips to the quarters.
Bolick himself tried to strap the unit on his shoulders by unloading a career-best 48 in Game 1 of their series versus the Bolts.
However, that wasn’t enough as the latter showed that collective effort often reigns victorious.
The charges of Coach Luigi Trillo would show that character of a perennial contender on Sunday night en route to sweeping their way to the semis to set up a best-of-7 affair with the Kings, leaving NLEX a disappointed bunch.
The Road Warriors lost six of their last seven games of the conference.
“‘Yung Game 1 talaga, ‘yun talaga ‘yun e,” said the former Fukushima import, who only mustered 18 points on 18 attempts in Game 2.
“Kung nakuha lang namin, medyo mataas ‘yung morale namin. Ngayon medyo mababa, tapos ang ganda ng start nila. Medyo umaano na kami.”
One lesson that Bolick hopes NLEX learns is to have that killer instinct, which he believes would’ve spelled the difference in their campaign – especially with that impressive start to the tilt.
“Kailangan yung gutom, ‘yung killer instinct nandoon – 5-1 na kami, dapat may chance kami sa Top Two, tapos ganun nangyari,” he said. “Ika ko nga, sa tagal ko rito sa PBA, ito ‘yung pinaka-magandang conference na nilaruan ko.
“Kahit sino, kayang talunin kahit sino kapag hindi ka ready. Tingnan mo ‘yung Terrafirma. Halos lahat 6-5 eh, halos lahat ng team mabibigat na. Dapat ‘pag may opportunity kami, kumbaga step on the pedal, ‘wag kami bumaba.”
But then, there’s no more reason to cry over what’s already done, and Bolick just wishes for the Road Warriors to grow from this conference.
“Iba na ‘yung laruan sa playoffs,” he said. “Iba sa’min first time pa. Ang laki ng inakyat namin from last conference na hindi pumasok, ngayon nakapag-quarters. Sana matuto kami and sa next conference, madala naman namin.
“Sana next time kami naman ‘yung makapag-semis,” furthered the current BPC frontrunner.
“Sana matuto kami as a team.”
