Robert Bolick. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
With Rey Nambatac shrugging off Davon Potts’ defense on his way to leading Racal’s furious rally late, Cignal-San Beda guard Robert Bolick knew he had to fix the issue fast.
He took it upon himself to defend the hot-shooting guard to halt the run as the Hawkeyes secured the 93-85 Game 1 win over the Tile Masters in Game 1 of the PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup Finals on Thursday.
“That’s how it is. Nambatac had tough shots, so our mindset was of he make it, he makes it. At least what we’re giving him were tough shots and not wide open lay-ups,” he said.
Bolick just didn’t get it done on defense, as he also carried Cignal offensively in the fourth period, firing eight of his 19 points in the frame, while also nabbing six assists and five rebounds.
With the Hawkeyes losing a lead as big as 21, the gritty guard said that the series opener should serve as a lesson as they seek to sweep the best-of-3 championship duel on Monday at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
“We can’t relax like what we did in Game 1. We have to fight until the end and continue on pushing because this is the championship. Who doesn’t want to win this, right?” he said. “Those things should no longer happen to us, but we know that it’s part of basketball. Fortunately, we stuck to our system and we made our baskets down the stretch.”
Bolick expects a tougher outing for Game 2 as Cignal anticipates Racal to lay everything on the line just to force a decider.
“I’m sure they’ll be ready to play. This is going to be a dirty dogfight. We know how it feels to be down 0-1 in our semifinals against Tanduay, so we know that they’re going to do everything to win. And the same goes with us. We don’t want to lose this game,” he said.