Blackwater coach Ariel Vanguardia acknowledged the tough challenge of turning things around knowing that his team is still in the midst of the longest losing streak in PBA history.
The Bossing fell to 0-3 in the Governors’ Cup and extended their record for futility to 22 consecutive games Thursday, Dec. 17 when they fell 98-77 to the Meralco Bolts at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Worse, Blackwater had to deal with injuries to its starting backcourt of Jvee Casio and Baser Amer and rookies Joshua Torralba and Andre Paras, forcing Vanguardia to make do with what he had.
“I’ve been with developing teams or teams na dinedevelop and we know it’s a process,” said Vanguardia. “But dito, there’s an extra monkey on the back, kasi yung iba walang mga expectation at walang hinahabol.
“It’s in the back of everybody’s mind and keep reminding na alisin niyo kasi this team is on a losing streak. And then yung kabila naman ang daling i-motivate kasi ang sasabihin mo lang wag tayo magpaaptalo sa team na ‘to.”
Rashawn McCarthy and Barkley Ebona, players acquired from some of the trades management pulled off before the start of the conference, are among the few positives in Blackwater’s early campaign.
But that couldn’t help snap the Bossing out of their current funk, with another difficult assignment coming up in the San Miguel Beermen on Saturday.
“We gotta get over that hump and yung mindset kailangan mabago,” Vanguardia said.