Photo courtesy of PBA Media Bureau
They may be considered as the fiercest backcourt tandem in the PBA today, but the GlobalPort duo of Terrence Romeo and Stanley Pringle got outmaneuvered by veteran Jayson Castro Friday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Though the two combined for 48 points for the Batang Pier, it was Castro’s leadership that carried TNT to a 107-96 triumph that pulled them closer to a twice-to-beat edge in the 2016 Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals.
Romeo felt the loss boiled down to the the lack of communication on both ends of the court.
READ: Texters dominate Batang Pier sans Tautuaa
“Kailangan namin mag-communicate, especially sa defense,” said Romeo. “Di kasi kami masyadong nag-communicate sa offense at defense.”
Pringle added: “It was more on our team defense, guarding the ball screen. It’s the issue we need to address.”
At 7-4, the Batang Pier are already assured of a twice-to-beat advantage at the fifth spot. But with less than a week to prepare for the playoffs, now is a good a time as any needs to figure out the team’s mistakes with a tougher grind ahead.
“We need to forget about this game and move on, see what we need to work on. We had too many turnovers today so we need to work on that,” he said, taking this defeat to TNT as an example.
Pringle ended, “We still have a lot of work to do. We need to work on better chemistry in the playoffs so we don’t get upset early.”