By NIKOLE JAVIER
A convincing Final Four win might have wowed onlookers but it’s no championship fit for Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin.
The 64-year-old tactician may have deemed the Blue Eagles’ 81-60 semifinals victory against the Adamson Soaring Falcons “their best offensive performance of the year” last Wednesday, Dec. 7, but it’s not lost on him how out of the ordinary a finals atmosphere can be.
Defending champion University of the Philippines, on the other end, had to hurdle a huge uprising in its 69-61 escape from National University in the earlier tipoff.
The two powerhouse teams, who were both armed with their twice-to-beat advantages, made sure to shrug off the air of complacency and booked the early return trip to the finals to stage a rematch.
“Those of you that don’t dealt too deeply into the mechanics of the game and the tactics of the game, UP came out today and ran virtually an entirely new offense. And we’ll know that offense by Sunday. He sees an Ateneo team that is probbaly playing its best basketball this season but he knows that we’re still heavy underdog in this game,” said Baldwin.
In the past four years, the Katipunan-based squads will be facing each other for the third time.
However, Baldwin doesn’t think the familiarity of the rival doesn’t make it less difficult to prepare as much as it “breeds contempt.”
“It’s more difficult to prepare. And that’s why coaches, try to, that have smart teams, that have tough teams, they try to give different looks because familiarity breeds contempt. And it’s not contempt for our opposition it’s contempt for their system because we understand. And so, that’s why you see all the radical changes that the coach makes. I’ve been in his shoes and I know what the pressure is like that he’s feeling right now,” Baldwin added.
With this in mind, the veteran coach believes that his players have more to offer in the finals showdown which could be key to their redemption.
“I want the Ateneo faithful behind this team because this team has already surpassed a lot of the expectations of them, and even to be fair, of the coaching staff. But the good thing is they haven’t surpassed their own. And that’s a credit to them,” he concluded.