NLEX needed to grind it out against Terrafirma to get its first win in the 47th season of the Philippine Basketball Association.
In the first half, the high-octane Road Warriors’ offense was only held down to just 31 points on 26-percent shooting from the field.
And for NLEX head coach Yeng Guiao, it’s not because his team was having a bad day. It was because of the defense of the hard-nosed Dyip.
“Magaling tong team na ito, may size at kumpleto sa materyales,” said the sixth-year NLEX coach. “Tapos nung first half, we were shooting 26-percent lang ito. Kasama na rin yung malas but we have to credit their defense.”
Guiao sees great potential in the current Terrafirma team.
In fact, that has been the case for the Dyip all throughout their eight-year stay in the league.
For Guiao, had it not been for the head-scratching transactions they had made through the years, the franchise that started out as KIA would have won a championship already.
“Magaling talaga yung Terrafirma. You cannot underestimate yung Terrafirma. Ang lalaki nila, they have the size at may pyesa sila. May materyales yung team na ito,” said Guiao, who has been a coach in the big league since 1990.
“Ang importante lang sa kanila yung tumagal yung samahan nila, lagi kasing napipitasan ng players yan e no. Kung hindi lang napipitasan yung team na yan, nagchampion na yung team na yan.”
Since 2015, Columbian had the first overall pick in the PBA draft four times while picking second twice.
In 2015, they traded the second overall pick which eventually became Troy Rosario to TNT. Two years later, they shipped the first overall pick to San Miguel. That picked ended up being Christian Standhardinger.
The year after, they got CJ Perez. Perez though would, later on, be shipped to San Miguel as well.
Terrafirma though struck out in 2019 and 2021 as Roosevelt Adamson and Jordan Heading decided to pack their bags and not play for them in some way.
Then, just recently, Terrafirma traded second overall pick Jeremiah Gray to Ginebra for Javi Gomez de Liaño, citing an immediate need for a healthy body.
Photo by PBA Images
But with this batch of Dyip that has the likes of Joshua Munzon, Juami Tiongson, Andreas Cahilig, Ed Daquioag, Isaac Go, and Gomez de Liano, Guiao hopes that they stick together for the long haul.
“Maraming papahirapan itong Terrafirma.”
NLEX eventually scraped out a 105-102 win.
For the four-time PBA champion coach, it was the character and the cohesion that this team has that led to the win.
“I’m very happy with the way we won because makikita mo yung character ng team namin. Kayod hanggang huli,” said Guiao. “I look at it as a good sign for our team. Umpisa pa lang, nakikita ko we can still gain momentum. Kung hindi ganun kasama opensa namin nung first half, hindi ganun kahirap yung panalo namin.
“We have to credit them for their defense.”
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