Gavina: Mahindra took a ‘big step forward’ in loss to SMB

Mahindra coach Chris Gavina. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Losing by an average margin of 18 points in its first three games, Mahindra coach Chris Gavina said his team took a step forward with its narrow loss to San Miguel on Sunday.

“This is definitely a moral victory,” Gavina said.

“Going into this game, our focus and our energy and our effort really moved towards offense to defense during practice, he added. “The energy that our guys showed in practice really transferred over into the game today. Defensively, everybody really stuck to our game plan, they really bought into one another. Hell of an effort on the defending champions San Miguel.”

Gavina also said the performance against the Beermen was the first time this season he saw the Floodbuster play as a unit.

“For me, this is the first game that we looked like a team. In the past three games, we just looked like just a bunch of individuals out there. Tonight, guys looked like they were caring for each other, backing each other up, and it showed,” he said.

Though still at the cellar at 0-4, Gavina can positively say that Mahindra is slowly picking up the pieces and is priming itself for a big win sooner or later.

“This is definitely a big step forward. I told our guys that I think this is the beginning of our season. The fact that we showed that we can compete against the defending champions means that we can compete against anybody,” he said.

And with a little more seasoning, Gavina is optimistic his wards will build the necessary chemistry to pull off a winning run and make it to the 2017 PBA Philippine Cup playoffs.

“I always thought that even when we started 0-4, it will just take time. It will take time for our guys to trust one another, believe in the system, and once they saw that it will work and that each of them can be really effective, and now our leaders are emerging,” he said.

“LA (Revilla) and Alex (Mallari) played amazing.  Mark Yee, though undersized going against a behemoth like Fajardo, stood his ground,” he said. “All the roles are being set, and so the team dynamic is being formed.”