NLEX gets tough love from Guiao in blowout to Star

Yeng Guiao and his NLEX Road Warriors. PBA IMAGES

NLEX head coach Yeng Guiao wanted to teach his players a lesson and he did it by not coaching them from the eight-minute mark of the fourth period in a blowout loss to Star Wednesday night.

With the Road Warriors down big, Guiao left his players figure things out in an attempt by the multititled mentor to help build his wards toughness.

“Partly frustration, but more than frustration, it’s really teaching them how to take care of themselves and not relying on other people to bail them out,” Guiao told reporters an hour after NLEX’s 99-75 loss at Mall of Asia Arena. “It’s something they will learn very quickly. And also, it’s part of the character-building process. We’ll take these losses, but I’ll make sure they remember the losses.”

“It’s a mental exercise, not just for me but for them also. When they go home, they have to think very hard about the situation, not take it for granted. It’s a little unorthodox, but that’s been the way I’ve been teaching my players ever since and in every team I handled,” Guiao added.

In the second quarter, Guiao unleashed his wrath after a string of bad NLEX possessions.

Guiao, who is in his first season with the Road Warriors after six fruitful years with Rain or Shine, said it won’t be the last.

“Marami pa silang makikitang ganun, marami pa silang mararamdaman na ganun, and marami pa silang sigaw at murang maririnig sa akin, hanggang matuto sila,” he said.

(They will see more of those, they will feel more of those and they will hear more from from me until they learn.)

The Road Warriors are currently in the bottom half of the standings with a 1-2 record.

“This is just our third game, but still, we don’t want to make it an excuse that we’re only in our second month together and we have new players and new coaches. That’s not an excuse. At this point, we should be playing decent basketball and we did not. That’s on us. We have to take responsibility and we have to find out where the mistakes were.”

NLEX had 31 turnovers with only 13 assists but what concerns Guiao most is his team’s character.

“Konting sabon pa, pabulain pa natin ng konti (They need a little more dressing down). I think they should feel that and that’s part of the pressure that they have to handle. I have to put that pressure on them in order to make them feel that professional basketball is about playing under pressure and delivering under pressure,” he said.

“That’s how you build the toughness, mental toughness particularly. That’s how I take care of my players. I told them it’s up to them. ‘If you cannot handle this, the door is wide open. If you can handle this, then maybe you can learn something.’”