Guiao wants Charlo to get more physical vs imports

Mo Charlo vs Augustus Gilchrist. PBA IMAGES

On Wednesday, Mo Charlo was just a little too unselfish for coach Yeng Guiao’s liking.

Gun-shy in the first half, the fiery coach took exception of Charlo’s pass-first attitude in the game against Mahindra.

“He wasn’t looking to score too much,” he said. “We need to talk to him and give him a better perspective of what he needs to do for us in the games to come. He really wanted to help us out by getting everybody involved, but an import has to score and he has to take shots and he did not take enough shots today. He just overpassed.”

Even teammates like Jeff Chan noticed Charlo’s mentality and wanted him to take it hard to the hoop.

“Kaya nga nung second half, medyo tumitira na sya. Puro outside eh, kailangan nya mag-drive kasi malakas naman sya.”

Though Charlo still finished with a near triple-double performance of 16 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists in Rain or Shine’s 103-98 victory over the Enforcers, Guiao would want his reinforcement to impose his presence to match up against the opposing reinforcements in the next games.

“Mo is in the NBA D-League All-Defensive Team. I don’t know if he’s just trying to adjust to the referees’ calls because he wasn’t getting too physical enough against (Augustus) Gilchrist,” he said.

Guiao would like to think that his import is still on his way of adapting to the league’s style of play, but hopes he adjusts to the physicality in the league.

“He is undersized, and if you’re undersized and you don’t get physical to the maximum limit that the league allows, your opponent is going to score on you and that’s what happened with Gilchrist. He has to test that limit of physicality that the referees give him.”

Paired against each other on both ends, Gilchrist had a field day over the smaller Charlo, going for 28 points and 11 rebounds in the game.

That can’t happen next time for the Elasto Painters, and Guiao is hopeful that his import would rectify this with four more games remaining in their schedule.

“I trust in his defense and he’s been defending all his life. He’s more of a defender than a scorer,” he said.

Chan echoed his coach’s statements, saying: “Hopefully, next game maka-adjust na sya.”