Yeng Guiao: 'Lumalaban 'yung team'
At A Glance
- Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao continued to find the silver lining in their narrow losses to TNT in their best-of-seven semifinals affair.
Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao continued to find the silver lining in their narrow losses to TNT in their best-of-seven semifinals affair.
The fiery mentor admitted that the lack of playoff experience came as a huge factor as to why the Elasto Painters have been falling short in closing out games in the semifinals although he was pretty much pleased with how his wards have been gutting it out against their favored rivals.
“The mere fact na you're playing a champion team with steep tradition and you're bringing them into an endgame situation every time. Ang laking bagay nun,” said Guiao after ROS’ 93-91 loss to TNT in Game 2.
“Disappointed ako pero nakikita ko na lumalaban 'yung team. Mayroon lang talagang mga, I won't call them rookie mistakes, pero mayroon lang talagang mga lack of experience mistakes. Pagka nakaka-experience ka, mas tumitibay ka sa endgame,” he added.
Rain or Shine, like in Game 1, had multiple chances in the last two minutes but just couldn’t buy a basket that could have either tied the game and extended to an overtime or won it in regulation.
The Elasto Painters even had a clear shot in their final possession but Adrian Nocum opted for a tough fadeaway jumper instead of attacking the Tropang Giga defense that was already without Jayson Castro and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson at that point.
But Guiao was not putting the blame on that final shot and instead owned up to the last drawn play.
“Kamukha kanina, I felt yung last play para kay Adrian, kasalanan ko rin,” admitted Guiao. “Nung dinesign namin yung play, hindi ko nasabi sa kanya, i-drive mo na lang. Pwedeng i-drive eh. Mas malaki chance na layup pumasok kesa dun sa pull-up jump shot.”
“So siguro in-assume ko na nung dini-design namin yung play pag nakuha niya. Kasi yun ang ugali naman ni Adrian na atakehin niya talaga eh. Dapat pala sinabi ko na atakehin mo ito, i-drive mo,” he added.
Still, Guiao believes this playoff experience would only benefit his young squad in the long run.
“Mayroon namang bright side din. We played them two games na parehong dikit, parehong may chance kaming manalo. Improvement pa rin ito kasi natatandaan ko doon sa last conference namin na nakalaban namin sa series,” he noted.