Converge may have emerged as the hottest team so far in the league--even dousing Phoenix’s fiery five-game win streak to extend their own winning run to six--but head coach Aldin Ayo is seeing some cause of concern with how the team is playing, especially in the last two games.
The first year coach felt that the FiberXers were being forced to play out of their system in the past two games.
“To be honest, we’re winning but in a way our game is deteriorating,” said Ayo after Converge outgunned Phoenix, 132-127, on Wednesday, Nov. 9.
“Umalis kami sa sistema namin against NLEX just to win the game and this game umalis din kami sa sistema namin kasi very unconventional yung approach ni coach Topex so medyo bumaba,” he added.
The FiberXers were forced to make adjustments on their game plan against the Road Warriors when import Quincy Miller hit the showers early after getting ejected late in the first half. Converge then had to rely on the second half performance of Jeron Teng and Aljun Melecio to pull off a 108-84 win.
The same thing happened to Convege in its game against Phoenix, according to Ayo, as he felt they failed to establish their defensive presence against the Fuel Masters, forcing them to just engage in the shootout. Fortunately, the FiberXers prevailed behind the 44 points of Miler built on eight triples and RK Ilagan who contributed 22 points on six treys.
“High scoring because of a lot of possession. Maiintindihan naman yun, ang daming transition treys,” Ayo commented about the game.
“In terms of our defense short time to prepare, tinamaan kami dun sa mga schemes nila especially dun sa mga flare and ng ganda ng mga play ni coach Topex eh nalalagay sa tamang pwesto yung mga tao and they now how to exploit it,” he added.
However, it was Phoenix which ran out of gas first in the final frame as FiberXers reset their three-point career-high to 23 for the second time this conference.
“Good thing, yung conditioning nandoon. The players are ready physically but we’re not going to have a break kasi gusto namin maibalik dun sa tamang laro kung paano kami maglaro,” said Ayo.