Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
BOCAUE — LA Tenorio warned Ginebra to not get too caught up on the moment, especially after the team’s 89-78 win over Magnolia to start the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup.
“It’s a great start for the season, but we still need to do a lot of things and we can’t be satisfied. Yes, we won the game, but we need to improve on a lot as a team,” Tenorio said on Monday.
Tenorio was one with coach Tim Cone as he feels that the game shouldn’t have been the Gin Kings’ for the lackluster showing they felt their team had at Philippine Arena.
“We need to look at this win because the win hides all the lapses. When you win, you think you did all the right things, but on the other hand, it could also look like it was the opponent’s off-night,” he said.
Ginebra turned the ball over 18 times in the game, which led to 18 easy points for Magnolia.
What worked to the Gin Kings’ favor, though, were the Hotshots firing blanks as the former’s defense limited the latter to just 36 percent shooting for the game.
Tenorio, however, could not deny that Ginebra’s will to win drove them to win, as he himself unloaded 15 points, eight assists, five rebounds, and five steals in the game.
And for him, all the credit should go to Cone.
“Coach Tim is pushing us everyday,” he said. “We weren’t solid on this game and we’re not expecting it right away, but we know that it’s a process. We have to get better every day, every practice.”
“We’ll improve more. We’ll look at the videos and see our mistakes for us to get better, for us to be a playoff team, and a championship contender also. This is not an assessment na that Ginebra is a strong team even though we have injuries. This is not the barometer. We want to be solid like how we were in the championship and in the playoffs. You’ll see more that we’ll be disciplined and our game will be better.”