Alaska head coach Alex Compton. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Alaska head coach Alex Compton didn’t mince his words as he blasted his players for their disrespectful showing in a 112-108 loss to Rain or Shine in Game 3 of the 2016 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals Wednesday night.
The final score suggests a closely contested game but it wasn’t until the latter half of the fourth quarter where the Aces started to show some fight.
“You guys watched the game and I think disappointing would be an understatement for an effort for our first half,” Compton told reporters after Alaska “Zero excuses for that kind of energy and effort and Rain or Shine really dominated us.”
“I don’t think we showed up and I’m not sure how you don’t show up in a Game 3,” said Compton. “We dishonored the game for a large stretch and then we tried to turn it on. We’re playing the best offensive team in the league, we can’t do that.”
Alaska made it interesting in the last five minutes of the game, where it outscored Rain or Shine, 28-12. But the story was in the middle quarters, where the Painters made shot after shot, 3-pointer after 3-pointer, for a 95-72 lead entering the final frame.
“We talked, we prepared, it wasn’t that we’re tired. Monday our practice was film and literally like half an hour of walk through. Nobody busted a sweat so, you can’t play that way in the Finals. I feel like there was a stretch there that was the most disappointing stretch of basketball that I recall seeing Alaska play.
“Second half, we tried to make some plays, we hustled, we came back. It’s great but the only problem was you’re supposed to start the game that way. We dishonored it for a long stretch today by not playing with the energy that is required,” he said.
Compton isn’t waving the white flag yet, but he knows that if the Aces come out without any sense of desperation on Friday the way they did in Game 3, the series will be over.
“We play this way, an excellent well-coached Rain or Shine team will be the champion if we play this way. I’m just more concerned about our effort there,” he said.
“You certainly don’t win a series with lack of attention to detail, lack of effort. That really felt like an aberration to me, I didn’t feel like that was our team.”