Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
LA Tenorio offered no excuses for Ginebra’s tough 94-77 loss to Blackwater for its first defeat of the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup.
The Gin Kings’ nightmares finally caught up on them on a night when they played a team determined to prove that it could roll with the heavyweights.
“(Blackwater) deserved to win this game,” he said. “They came out really prepared against us and we didn’t play our usual game for 48 minutes. There were times that we did what we have to do, but we were not consistent. Hats off to Blackwater. They deserved to win this game.”
As powerful as the Gin Kings are this conference, consistency has been their biggest issue.
Tenorio, however, believes that this may be a blessing in disguise for Ginebra as it now has no excuse but to go back to the basics and humble itself.
“Last game, we felt that we were supposed to lose that and we didn’t learn from that. Now, what was supposed to happen, happened,” he said. “So I’m looking at this game as a positive sign for us because if we had won this game, we wouldn’t have seen any room for improvement. When you’re winning, you don’t mind your mistakes and you always think you’re doing the right thing. So I think this is the right time for us to look at what we still need to improve on.”
Tenorio went to as far as saying that had they faced off against the top-tier teams with the same lackadaisical effort, it’s about certain that Ginebra will be ran out of the venue.
“Had we played San Miguel, TNT, or NLEX, or Meralco, most likely we’ll be routed. So we just have to do better to be one of the contenders again. We cannot play this kind of game, especially going into the playoffs against the top teams,” he said.
Fortunately, Ginebra has nine days to refocus before facing off against Alaska on January 21.
Thar game, though, is the least of Tenorio’s concerns for now
“It’s still far. We have to be worried about ourselves and the team because we can’t play this way. So we have to think what we can improve on as a team, especially on the defensive end,” he said.