Time to ‘act now’ as road gets tougher for free-falling NLEX

NLEX’s Kiefer Ravena. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

There’s no denying that NLEX is on a dangerous slippery slope in the PBA Philippine Cup.

After the Road Warriors cruised to a 2-0 start, with rookie star Kiefer Ravena showing off his capabilities, they suddenly found themselves on a four-game losing streak.

And that skid has apparently taken a toll on the young star, but Ravena maintains the positive spirit that has been displayed since he was in college.

“The hole just keeps getting deeper,” said Ravena in Filipino Friday at Smart Araneta Coliseum. “We have to be positive about this, I don’t know how, but we still have five more games and it’s only going to get tougher so personally we have to find a way to help each other out.”

“We won our first two so teams probably thought that NLEX is no longer a pushover, but at the same time we got too full of ourselves… I guess there’s a tendency, that it’s human nature to relax but we have to wake up from our deep slumber.”

NLEX is now languishing in the bottom of the pile with its 2-4 record being the league’s second-worst slate, just above Kia’s 1-5.

Although NLEX had three of its starters finish in double figures, the rest of the team either failed to carry their weight or just didn’t get much shot attempts.

JR Quiñahan had 22 points to lead NLEX while Alex Mallari and Ravena had 17 and 14 points, respectively.

In the surface, NLEX seems to have found out a balanced scoring route but the other two starters fired blanks in the Road Warriors’ 97-86 loss to Rain or Shine.

Larry Fonacier made just one field goal on eight attempts and scored three points while Juami Tiongson went 2-of-10 for six points.

“We have to be consistent as a team,” said Ravena. “I think we should look for other ways to win because we’re now in this stage where we lost four and our next four opponents aren’t pushovers.”

NLEX will next face Ginebra, Meralco, Alaska, Blackwater, and TNT with both the KaTropa and Aces in the top four of the standings as of posting time.

“We have to take it day-by-day and figure out to get our momentum back, get our confidence back to play and win,” said Ravena.

“Every loss is becoming a burden on our shoulders especially with the situation wherein it’s really tight in the standings, we have act quickly and act now.”