Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Alaska has made a name for itself as one of the best teams in the league at pulling off comebacks.
The Aces did that a couple of seasons ago winning more than a dozen games after trailing by more than 20 points, and on Wednesday they stunned Meralco 81-79 after falling by as much as nine points with less than three minutes left in the game.
On Sunday, however, Alaska was in no mood to play catch-up and decided to give Ginebra a 101-86 shellacking in a game it never trailed in.
Forward Calvin Abueva said they can’t just allow teams to put them in a disadvantage as early as the first quarter.
“Yun nga yung parang inaano namin sila, fino-force sila na isipin na kayang kaya nila kami pero sa amin di kami pwedeng mag give up sa first quarter pa lang (That’s what we’re making teams think that they can beat us, but for us we can’t just give up in the first quarter),” said Abueva.
“Kaya first hanggang third quarter binigay na namin lahat para umangat lamang namin (So from the first until the third quarter we gave it all so we can build a big lead).”
Abueva also commended the team’s supporting cast for holding on to the lead after head coach Alex Compton pulled them back to the bench and rest.
Alaska’s bench outscored their counterparts, 61-51.
“Maganda naman ginawa nila, hindi nila pinabayaan lamang namin (They did a pretty good job and they protected the lead come closing time).”