MANILA, Philippines — Undermanned but still unbeaten, NLEX tries to sustain its impressive run against winless Derulo Accelero in the PBA D-League Foundation Cup Monday at JCSGO Gym in Cubao.
But the Road Warriors are not taking the Oilers lightly in the 2 p.m. match, noting that their rivals had gone down fighting in all their previous losses.
“They (the Oilers) are struggling but their desire to win makes them dangerous. So we can’t be complacent,” said NLEX deputy coach Mon Celis, who is seeking a sixth straight victory with head coach Boyet Fernandez and five players still unavailable.
Cebuana Lhuillier (3-1) tackles Cafe France at 10 a.m., while Big Chill aims to halt a two-game slide against Boracay Rum at 12 noon.
Fernandez, who also mentors NCAA champion San Beda, left for training in Lithuania three weeks ago along with players Ola Adeogun, Baser Amer, Art dela Cruz, Kyle Pascual and Ryusei Koga.
Although NLEX remains formidable with last conference’s MVP Garvo Lanete, Ray Parks and Kevin Alas, the Oilers showed they can keep pace with the league’s big guns after dropping their last two games by 5 points