Racela praises Beermen’s character: Hard to beat a team like them

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net

TNT coach Nash Racela resigned to the fact that in Game 6, San Miguel was indeed the better team.

“To tell you honestly, San Miguel played almost a perfect game today,” he said on the heels of the KaTropa’s 115-91 defeat on Sunday to surrender the 2017 PBA Commissioner’s Cup in six games.

“When we needed it the most, that’s when suddenly, they played really, really well. It’s hard to beat a team like San Miguel, you know how strong a team like San Miguel is. It’s actually us who needed to play perfectly. But that’s the character of their team, that’s why they’re the champions. When you need it the most, that’s when they suddenly play well.”

The Beermen went bonkers from the get-go, with Charles Rhodes anchoring a 37-point first quarter and the snipers connecting from rainbow country where they went 12-of-29.

But Racela knows that San Miguel didn’t build its empire overnight as the most dominant team in the league today also went through hardships first before it could reap success.

“If you look at San Miguel and where they are right now, they never got to this stage overnight. They had to undergo a lot of drama, with the Petronovela and all, and it took them years and lots of conferences before they won their championships,” he noted. “I think more than the xs and os, it was really the character of San Miguel that won them the championship.”

Despite TNT finishing as runner-up, Racela noted that the Finals experience alone should be valuable going forward for the franchise as it hopes to return to the championship-level it once was in.

“We are going through the same process. We just have to remind ourselves to be patient,” he said.

“Before the start of the series, a lot of people talked about us being the inexperienced team, having maybe eight or nine players without Finals experience. It won’t be the case next time because that’s something we gained today — the learnings and the experience. Again, basketball is a game of spurts, a game of runs. But when you look at San Miguel, even with us making our runs, they’re not getting rattled. That’s something we need to learn. We have young players, and once you get to that level and you know that you have to play, you have to play on.”

And Racela is just thankful for the opportunity as he looks to prepare the KaTropa for another run in the season-ending Governors’ Cup.

“Of course, it’s not the way we wanted it to end, but it is what it is. That’s life,” he said. “Sometimes, you plan for things, but God knows better. What’s important for us is as long as we know in our hearts, we gave it our best shot, we should be OK.”