The past two months have been frustrating for Gold’s Gym-Pasig Kings.
After a sensational outing during the 2019 FIBA 3X3 Doha Masters, Pasig fell into a slump
During the Kunshan Challenger, Pasig lost to Sosnovy Bor, 21-19, and Liman, 12-22, in the group stages.
Then in the Tinkoff Moscow Challenger, Pasig could not crack the win column once more, suffering defeats at the hands of Antwerp (14-21) and Riga (17-21).
And it was all too frustrating for the Pasig quartet.
“I think the last two Challengers, we have been shuffling a lot of players because of injuries and stuff,” recalled Philippines no. 2 player Taylor Statham as he and Joshua Munzon were the only constants during those two tournaments.
“It was hard to click.”
That is why winning the first leg of the 2019 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 Patriot’s Cup presented by Coca-Cola was particularly important for them.
Facing a new field, Pasig swept the pool stages to set up a showdown with world no. 14 VetHealth-Delhi 3bl.
Pasig managed to survive an early Delhi explosion en route to a 21-16 win to advance to the Finals.
Gaining steam, Pasig cruised to a 21-15 victory over the Phenom-Basilan Steel to win the leg’s pot of PHP 100,000.
More importantly, it was the remedy the Kings needed for their woes.
“It’s great! This is what we needed. We just needed to get a taste of a few wins again, get on the same page. Now, we are flowing again,” said Statham, who had 13 points in the finals.
“We just need to keep building again.”
But this is just the first leg. Based on experience, Statham knows that the competition will just get tougher and tougher as there is a World Tour ticket and PHP 1,000,000 at stake.
And the 27-year-old bruiser knows that they need to absorb every learning they can get before heading on to the Poitiers Challenger from July 5 to 6.
“Those were two great teams we just played in Delhi and Basilan, those were really exciting basketball. Against them, you have to be really efficient, can’t make too many mistakes,” he opined.
“Those are the kind of basketball that we want to play before heading on to the Poitiers Challenger.”
