If head coach Yeng Guiao were asked, the NLEX Road Warriors shot themselves in the foot on Sunday evening.
Guiao was left frustrated when his wards built a 16-point wall early in the final frame, only for the Meralco Bolts to demolish the lead and get away with a 108-105 win that put an end to their six-game slide in the 2018 Governors’ Cup.
“Well, it’s really frustrating. It’s a bad loss,” said Guiao.
“It’s not that they won the game. We lost it.”
Guiao rued the way the breaks killed the Road Warriors’ chances in the game. When the Bolts were able to tie the game at 105-all with 46 seconds left, NLEX point guard Juami Tiongson was called for a traveling violation.
That resulted in a three-pointer by Baser Amer moments later.
Tiongson tried to make up for it in the game’s final seconds by hoisting up a potential game-tying three-pointer with less than 1.50 seconds left, but unfortunately, Allen Durham had his shot perfectly timed and swatted it away.
“Just too many turnovers in a short period of time. Specially happening in the end game,” said Guiao.
The Gilas Pilipinas head coach doesn’t want to put the blame on outside factors, however, saying that his side, too, should be responsible for the loss – the Road Warriors have now lost their third straight and have dropped to 4-5.
“But we have to take some blame for it, take some responsibility for it.
“I couldn’t find a point guard in the end game who can carry the game for us. Kahit sino bunutin kong point guard, turnover ang resulta eh,” he said.
Given what he said, it is obvious that NLEX are now badly missing the services of point guards Kiefer Ravena and Kevin Alas. And Guiao couldn’t agree more.
“If we had Kevin or Kiefer in this game, we would have won comfortably. But mahirap kasing mag-isip ng isang bagay na hindi naman pwedeng mangyari sa ngayon. We missed them but we know that’s not going to happen soon,” the national team mentor reflected.
“We just have to live with what we have.”
