Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Nash Racela is a golf nut and has a target of breaking 90 every time he tees it up.
That’s quite modest for a mid-level handicapper, and as a PBA coach with TNT KaTropa, Racela’s goals are not too grandiose either.
Like golfers who take it one hole at a time, Racela is not looking at the last three games of the Texters as a whole, but will focus on one facing them at 4:15 p.m. today in a match so vital it could make or break them in the playoffs.
“We will have to deal with Mahindra first,” Racela said before hitting his tee shot on No. 16 of Valley’s South Course in Antipolo yesterday, where he played a round to lessen the occupational stress. “Our target is to get as many wins as we can [in our last three games] and then be ready for the next battle, whether we fall in a best-of-three or what.”
With a 4-4 record, TNT is bunched in a five-team logjam for fifth spot and Racela knows that they can’t afford to drop out of the tie, with GlobalPort and San Miguel Beer still to come for the Texters after today.
TNT is more or less out of contention for a twice-to-beat privilege in the first round of the playoffs and the goal right now is to make it to the middle of the eight-team pack that will advance.
“I know we are going through a process [of change] in the team,” he said. “Right now, the change is only in their (players’) minds. We are still in a process of transition and it is hurting us.”
Meanwhile, Phoenix Petroleum, which is also at 4-4, slugs it out with NLEX in the 7 p.m. contest looking to stay in the running for a decent spot in the playoffs.
The change Racela is talking about is the shift back to the collegiate attitude for his Texters, something he was very successful at while handling Far Eastern University in the UAAP.
Jason Castro and Ranidel de Ocampo will lead TNT’s bid.
Mahindra, meanwhile, will be shooting to win a third straight and fan its wafer-thin hopes of advancing to the playoffs.
“I know that it will take some time,” he said. “But once they (Texters) embrace it (new system he is trying to instill), there’s no doubt that it will work.”