Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao admitted that his team’s game plan got disrupted following Bay Area’s decision to switch imports just a day before the two teams’ showdown in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals.
The Dragons brought back Andrew Nicholson after Myles Powell went down with a foot injury during practice days ago but the Elasto Painters only received the memo regarding such just when they were about to wrap up practice.
Clearly, they no longer had enough time to map out a plan against the veteran big man, with all their schemes set up in containing the conference’s top scorer.
Rain or Shine lost, 126-96, bidding goodbye to its campaign as the top-seeded crew maximized their win-once incentive to reach the semis.
“Kahapon, patapos na practice namin nung sinabihan kami. Kasi 24 hours ‘yung notice eh, eh nagpapractice kami 9 to 12. Binigay nila ‘yung memorandum, magtu-12 na,” he said moments after the game at the Philsports Arena.
“So, usap-usap lang kami ng staff. Double-in nalang natin. Kanina, dino-double na lang namin. Nai-walkthrough namin ng mga ilang minuto, but we were really preparing for Myles Powell,” the veteran mentor added.
Though he isn’t one to make excuses, Guiao used Bay Area’s import situation to further reiterate his stance on fielding guest teams in the league.
The vocal bench tactician expressed that the competition could’ve been better had all member teams been allowed or at least given the option to play with two imports to fare better against the ball club from Hong Kong.
Guiao could only wonder how things would’ve been different not just for his team but for the others had they also had that kind of privilege in terms of having another import that could quickly fill in should problems arise.
“Dati ko na in-express yung apprehensions ko about yung arrangements, na [there] could have been more parity with the local teams and the guest teams. Maybe a simple solution would be to allow us to use two imports also. I just questioned nga yung nagpalit sila ng import, na-injure yata yung isa.”
“Kasi yung mga locals teams natin noong na-injure yung mga imports tsaka nag-positive sa COVID, we had to play without imports. Kami, yung Terrafirma, yung Talk N Text. Ayun lang, if we were following the same rule, maybe we could have had a break of them playing without an import, kung natyempo nga doon sa ganoong pangyayari,” he said. “Or kung ina-allow nila yung ganoon, then maybe noong nawalan kami ng import na nagkaroon ng injury or nag-positive, then we could have put in our import that time. Baka nag-iba yung placing namin, hindi namin sila nakatapat. So yun yung mga concerns ko lang.”
Guiao, however, clarified that he is not against welcoming and facing guest teams, but would want the league to ‘put more thought’ into it.
(C) PBA Images
“I guess we should put more thought into it. I’m not opposed to having guest teams and experiencing new challenges, but we should not subject ourselves to being put in a disadvantageous position,” he said. ”Yun lang naman. Okay ako diyan sa may guest team tayo, okay ako diyan, natututo tayo sa ibang coaches, sa ibang teams. Nakikita natin yung ibang sistema, okay ako diyan. Pero kailangan lang, on even terms.
“Kasi example si [Hayden] Blankley, local ba siya or import siya? Hindi ko alam. Local yata siya eh. How do you define a local for them. Kunyari si [Duncan] Reid, local ba siya or import ba siya? Kasi ang alam kong import nila si Nicholson at saka si Powell. Those things, it should be given more thought, and at the same time, we should also protect the local teams that we have. Ayaw naman natin natatalo tayo nang 30 puntos, 40, 50,” he continued.
“Syempre, hindi lang naman kami, pati rin yung ibang teams, makikinabang naman doon sa ganoong arrangement. Natyempo lang na kami yung katapat nila at ako lang yung nag-open up na ganito. I’m sure yung ibang teams may mga apprehensions sila, pero maybe, they’re not as vocal as I am. Parang nagiging boses lang din ako ng mga ibang teams, maybe ibang fans.”
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
