Carlo Lastimosa and MJ Rhett. PBA IMAGES
Carlo Lastimosa is emerging to be a go-to guy for Blackwater.
Known as a deadly slasher, the former St. Benilde standout once again lit up the scoreboard, finishing with a career-high 39 points that went with four rebounds and four assists.
However, those were all for naught as Blackwater dropped its opening game against an undermanned TNT squad, 108-102, on Wednesday in the 2016 Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup on Wednesday.
READ: Shorthanded TNT survives Lastimosa-led Blackwater
“Sayang,” said Lastimosa. “Kahit five points, basta panalo. Pero ganun talaga yung laro, may mananalo at matatalo. Bawi na lang next game.”
Frustrated with how things went for the Elite, the scorer said that their slow start proved to be their undoing in the matchup against the Tropa.
“Kulang sa aggressiveness nung first half at third quarter. Siguro naga-adjust pa yung import namin,” he said.
It didn’t help that reinforcement MJ Rhett was underwhelming in his debut, tallying 16 markers and seven rebounds.
“Siguro nanibago sya sa physicality. So far, ok naman sya sa practice pero ngayon, di namin alam. Siguro mag-improve pa yan kasi kailangan namin yung tulong nya,” he said.
Though Blackwater has improved collectively, Lastimosa admits there are still aspects in their play that needs fixing. That was evident as the Elite failed to take advantage of TNT missing key pieces in import Ivan Johnson and rookie Troy Rosario.
“Nagiimprove naman kami every conference eh. Sayang lang kasi TNT ang kalaban, wala pa silang import pero veterans na yung players nila. Sayang talaga,” he said.
However, Lastimosa is keeping a positive attitude this conference and is hoping to fare better in their next game.
“Yung teammates ko, hinahanap naman ako. Nakita nila na medyo mainit ako ngayon. Buti nabigyan ako ng bola at nashu-shoot din. Kung hindi nashu-shoot, baka tambak siguro kami. But it’s all good. Start pa lang ng season, matagal pa,” he said. “We’ll see. Sana mag-improve pa yung team.”
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