Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
Jayson Castro did all he could for TNT, but even his near triple-double performance couldn’t prevent his side from falling to Rain or Shine, 82-79, Friday night at the start of their 2018 PBA Philippine Cup campaign.
And for coach Nash Racela, it’s all because the other KaTropa players need to step up and make their shots.
“I think if you look at the whole game, Jayson was making the right decisions. He was taking the shots that he needed to take, making the right passes. But it just so happened that his teammates weren’t able to convert,” he said.
Castro churned out an impressive statistical line of 18 points, 10 assists, and nine rebounds in the season opener, but his support group didn’t do enough to pull off the W.
TNT threw up 102 attempts and converted 31, a 30-percent shooting clip which further sinks when looking at the three-pointers: The Texters went 8-of-38 from downtown.
Further weighing the team down was the exit of Anthony Semerad, who was performing relatively well and shot 3-of-7 from threes to notch 13 points. Semerad left the game after injuring his right knee at the 8:38 mark of the fourth period, which further put the Texters at a disadvantage.
Though Racela acknowledged the 33 offensive boards his team snared, as well as the 73 total rebounds TNT hauled, as a positive they could build on, he said he’d rather have his side drilling those shots than getting second chances.
“We got those 33 because we missed a lot of shots. The energy was still there despite us missing our shots. We were trying to get shots off those misses, which is a good sign for us, but then again, we’d rather have us making our attempts,” he said.
Luckily for the Texters, they will have a week-long breather before trying to correct those miscues as they take on Alaska on Dec. 29, at Cuneta Astrodome.
“For sure, they’ll force us to take the outside shots again, so it’s a challenge for us to make it from the outside. Again, we’ll find ways to have better execution next time,” he said.