Coach Louie Alas. Photo by Celest R. Flores/FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Father and son Louie and Kevin Alas have always been on the same team.
Louie was a former longtime college coach in Letran and Kevin was the team’s star guard.
Louie landed a job in the PBA as one of the Alaska Aces’ assistant coaches and was later joined by Kevin in the pros after being selected second overall by the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in this year’s draft.
Louie hardly misses a game where Kevin or his other sons Junjun and Kenneth play in. He watched from a distance when Kevin received his MVP trophy and won a championship the same day in the PBA D-League. He was also there when Kevin made his PBA debut last Oct. 19.
And when Talk ‘N Text, which acquired Kevin in a trade in the offseason, faced Alaska Tuesday night, Louie was there but at the opposite bench.
“It’s my first time to face my dad and it felt different of course when you play and you look at the bench you’re playing against your dad,” said the 22-year-old Kevin, who also added that he didn’t want to lose his focus on the game by trying to give his dad a glance while he was on the court.
Kevin said they didn’t get the chance to talk about the game after he just moved to a condominium in Eastwood but Louie said they already know the drill.
“We’ve already talked about this before that whenever we play against each other, we won’t exchange notes,” Louie said with a laugh.
The 51-year-old Louie, who guided the Knights to three NCAA championships, only hoped for two things to happen prior to the game.
“It was mixed emotions for me prior to the game because I really wanted our team to win and I wanted him to have a good game,” he said.
He got his wish with the Aces beating the Tropang Texters on a buzzer beater by Calvin Abueva and Kevin firing 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and dishing out two assists in just 17 minutes.
Kevin’s next game is against Rain or Shine on Sunday where he and his dad, who will likely be at the stands watching from a distance, will again be rooting for the same team.