Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
BOCAUE — The Philippine Arena may be near to coach Yeng Guiao, but the NLEX coach doesn’t regard the world’s largest indoor arena as his team’s homecourt in any way.
“We can say that NLEX is our homecourt. But the game isn’t played on the road but rather, inside the arena,” the Road Warriors mentor said in Filipino.
It’s easy to see Guiao liking the location of the venue with his house being located at Angeles, Pampanga. But for the fiery mentor, the good things for him end at the moment the expressway diverts to Ciudad de Victoria here in Bocaue, Bulacan.
“It’s just convenient for us because the roads are good and the travel is fast,” he said.
The magnitude of the place was one of the points of concern for Guiao coming to the Christmas Day game, knowing that the unfamiliarity of NLEX in the cavernous venue could come into play as they played here for the first time on Monday.
“It’s so big. We haven’t practiced here so I told the players to come early for them to try to soak in the atmosphere and familiarize yourselves with the environment as much as possible. The feel is a huge thing because if you’re not comfortable with whatever it is, you may have a difficulty playing,” he said.
Luckily for Guiao, his players followed his instructions and played at their best, with the Road Warriors coming away with a 115-104 triumph over GlobalPort to go 2-0 in the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup.
Despite the win, Guiao knows that majority of the fans who came to the venue are still cheering for one team only.
“Once you enter the court, the fans inside are still rooting for Ginebra,” he said with a chuckle.