IT ISN’T hard to like Leo Austria and Alex Compton, the two coaches patrolling the sidelines in the ongoing PBA Philippine Cup finals.
For one, the two look like the kind of guys you would have a drink with, whether it was beer or milk (just trying to be balanced here). And they’re named Leo and Alex and everybody has friends who go by that name.
They’re also delightful interviews. Austria always tries to be available and charms you with a homespun quality that quickly disarms you. Compton is the American who speaks Filipino because he made a conscious effort to learn the language of the land where he was born and eventually would play in.
In her recent column, Beth Celis re-established the Welcoat connection between the two when Austria coached the PBL team and the first version of their PBA unit later on. Compton was a player, assistant coach and import of that team.
Their links do run deep. But wait, there’s more.
Both Austria and Compton were three-point award artists. Austria, the 1985 PBA Rookie of the Year awardee when he started out with Shell, could come off the bench and nail crucial rainbow shots. He was like a Steve Kerr when the prolific trey shooter was at San Antonio and had to quickly connect to keep opponents at bay or to fuel Spurs’ rallies.
For a while, the late Butch Maniego and I used the moniker “Sariaya Cyclone” for Austria, a salute to his Quezon hometown and his marksmanship.
Compton, on the other hand, could nail long, dramatic heaves from beyond the arc. Opponents in the MBA and the PBL later on knew that even if they were ahead, the game was never over if Compton was on the other side. Compton would simply clap his hands, dig in deep to fight the defense, circle around picks and then hoist a three that would usually go in.
Here are two competitive guys that you would want on your team. San Miguel is fortunate to have Austria, just as Alaska is blessed to have Compton. These are two coaches who will not give up until the final buzzer and one team wins this series in four games.
* * *
Last Wednesday’s opening game is indicative of the series. Down by as much as 22 points, Alaska decided to bite the bullet and scratched back into the game. They finally forced the extension and won in the end with better shot selection and crucial rebounds.
Compton will probably not admit it out loud but one could sense that he knew his team could claw back as long as they stuck together playing that suffocating defense of theirs.
Now Compton knows that Austria tinkered with their game in practice after Game 1.
Austria is not the type to easily give up. My favorite coaching image of him is when he would push hard his Adamson Falcons, a team that perhaps felt it had no chance to go deep in the UAAP playoffs. They went to the Final Four and almost made it to the finals.
So Alex and Leo will still be friends after this championship and all of us will be interested to have that drink with either one, whoever wins. That’s because we love fierce competitors, those that never give up and make those around them believe that anything is possible.
Follow the sports talk on Twitter@spsortssev.