LA Tenorio felt like Ginebra fell into the trap of complacency in that stunning Game 4 defeat that allowed Bay Area to knot the series at 2-2.
With Bay Area playing without Andrew Nicholson, the veteran guard admitted that they relaxed and just waited for the game to come to them instead of the Kings taking it away.
And the prize Ginebra had to pay was big.
The Dragons, wounded and all, braved through the adversity and the roaring 17,236 crowd to stun the Kings with a 94-86 victory which allowed them to avoid falling into a 3-1 hole and suddenly gave them the momentum ahead of the pivotal Game 5.
“Siguro we fell into that trap na kinakatakot namin na mangyari eh nangyari. They're a good team. They are a well-coached team, di sila basta basta nagpapatalo we knew that coming into this game coming into this series,” said Tenorio moments after the game.
Tenorio also felt like the Kings were caught off-guard by the sudden shift of attack from the Dragons since they are used to seeing them play through Nicholson all playoffs long.
Without Nicholson and even the other Bay Area import in Myles Powell, the Dragons suddenly became unpredictable with the rest of their locals proving to be more than ready to take the cudgels when their numbers were called upon.
Kobey Lam exploded with 30 points built on eight triples while Glen Yang asserted himself more on the scoring after just running the offense for Bay Area in the first few games in the series to also contribute 18 points.
Zhu Songwei, Liu Chuanxing, Hayden Blankley and Duncan Reid all did their part in the stunning upset especially on the defensive end.
“Mas unpredictable sila ngayon kasi lumabas yung strength nila ‘yung talent nila. Siyempre coming into this series talagang yung mindset namin is to stop Nicholson, whatever it takes diba kasi yun yung point of attack nila. Very confident sila nakita naman kanina,” said Tenorio.
“They are ready for this game di sila naback down di nila binigay sa amin easily yung laro because they know how to play,” he added.