This is not the start the NLEX Road Warriors envisioned.
The Road Warriors are now in a deep 0-3 hole in the 2019 PBA Philippine Cup. Their comeback fell short against the Roger Pogoy-paced TNT KaTropa, 80-85, Wednesday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
NLEX battled back from 14 points down early in the fourth quarter. They unloaded a 16-4 blitz to knock within just a field goal with less that three minutes left to play, but then third-year guard Pogoy and Jayson Castro stopped them on their tracks.
“We’re still struggling,” admitted Road Warriors head coach Yeng Guiao.
NLEX are still in the process of having their unit work seamlessly. Poy Erram has yet to familiarize himself with his new team, while Kevin Alas – who has just recovered from an ACL injury – is still working himself back into game form.
“We still need to work on the re-integration of Kevin in the team, and siguro settling down Poy into the team,” said the seasoned tactician.
Still, Erram impressed yet again with 19 points and seven rebounds. And he isn’t the only one providing the scoring, as Bong Galanza unloaded a career-high of 19 points as well, including 16 in the first half. Philip Paniamogan had 10 markers.
But for Guiao, this isn’t ideal.
“We need to get more scoring from our usual sources of points. JR [Quiñahan] was not his usual self offensively. After Bong Galanza, si Philip Paniamogan na among the guards. We can’t win with just three guys in double figures,” he said.
“The ideal situation for us is we need five or six guys to gain our offensive rhythm.”
Frustration had actually gotten the best of Guiao at one point in the tightly-contested bout. He was ejected with 4:22 remaining in the third quarter after giving one of the referees an earful due to an apparent non-call.
Lead assistant Jojo Lastimosa called the shots after Guiao’s departure.
“Last game pa ‘yan eh. ‘Yung kay Poy na tinawagan siya ng fifth foul niya sa NorthPort. ‘Yun ‘yung inipit ‘yung kamay niya ni Tautuaa tapos tinawagan siya ng foul … From then on, he really was not useful defensively anymore,” said Guiao.
“So nung end game, kung kailangan kailangan depensa niya, he had to take care of his foul situation. And then ngayon, ang daming situation: open court, lumayup ata si Kevin wala nang ibang gagawin dun, they could not give him the free throws. It was an obvious foul on JR. They’re missing the obvious.
“‘Yung mga obvious nami-miss. I cannot understand that. There is something wrong with that. May problema doon. I’m just frustrated. We’re already struggling, masama pa officiating, you’ll really get frustrated about it,” he added.
Still, Guiao isn’t pushing the panic button yet, since they still have time to figure things out.
“Maaga pa naman. I’m not losing hope,” he said. “Ang feeling ko rito kapag nakakuha kami ng momentum, we’ll be okay. Maka-dalawa o tatlong laro kami, get to the fifty percent winning percentage, then kakayurin mo na lang.
“Makarating lang ng quarters, that would mean we have spent time together and our players have already jelled by that time. We’ll take our chances. Importante manalo muna kami.”
