Converge head coach Aldin Ayo already pulled off some of the biggest wins in his young PBA coaching career this conference, even scoring a hat trick against champion coaches in Meralco’s Norman Black, San Miguel’s Leo Austria and now TNT’s Chot Reyes.
The 45-year-old mentor, however, was not the one who would put meaning to such victories, saying that he was just happy to compete against some of the best in the league – especially Reyes who he regarded as one of his inspirations in coaching.
“I'm just grateful we won and talking about coach Chot, he's one of the coaches I look up to,” said Ayo in the aftermath of the FiberXers dominant 130-117 victory over the Tropang Giga on Friday, Oct. 28.
“(He’s) probably one of the reasons also why I love coaching. He's an inspiration. 'Yung accomplishments niya, 'yung mga ginagawa niya, he inspires a lot of coaches and I'm one of them,” he added.
Ayo though didn’t only impressed in his first coaching battle against the multi-titled coach and national team mentor, but he went on to have an emphatic first win over Reyes with the FiberXers, toying the Tropang Giga’s defense with their torrid outside shooting and blitzing run-and-gun assault.
Converge, for one, drilled a whopping 21 triples with import Quincy Miller being accounted for nine of those while both Jeron Teng and Aljun Melecio added a combined five more treys.
Ayo was actually the least surprised with how good his charges shot the ball from beyond the arc, knowing the effort his team had been putting in every practice.
“They deserve it. During the practice, all of these players just keep on shooting. Hindi naman 'yan basta-bastang mangyayari. It's all about the preparations,” said Ayo.
“Lately, hindi ko alam na may shooting gun pala kami eh sa facility namin. Actually, 'yun ang una kong nirequest, 'yung shooting gun and hindi ko naman pinipilit 'tong mga 'to na gamitin. On their own, sila nagset up no'n. I think it's big help sa mga players na makatira nang makatira because it's all about repetitions. Basketball is about repetitions,” he explained.