Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
NLEX coach Yeng Guiao isn’t losing sleep even after the Road Warriors suffered a blowout loss to Magnolia in Game 2 of their 2018 PBA Philippine Cup semifinals series on Monday.
“I just feel that even if we lost, I don’t feel that badly about it,” Guiao said after the Hotshots cruised to a 99-84 win.
READ: Lee catches fire as Magnolia torches NLEX to even series
“I guess winning seven out of our last eight before this game takes a toll on you. It’s human nature that you’ll probably going to be relaxed a little bit. We’re not as sharp as we needed to be,” he said.
.@ArangkadaNLEX coach Yeng Guiao isn’t too worried despite his team’s Game 2 defeat. #PBA2018 pic.twitter.com/4YSDialXPT
— Randolph B. Leongson (@RLeongsonINQ) March 12, 2018
NLEX was evidently a step slower on defense in the game that allowed Magnolia to shoot 50 percent from the field.
Not to mention the Hotshots played inspired basketball as they rallied behind injured Marc Pingris (ACL) to equalize the series.
But rather than mope on the defeat, Guiao looked at the game at glass half full.
“It’s also some kind of pressure release, and we can probably play a little bit more loosely in our next game,” he said. “I’m not really worried. I know we can play better, I know we can be sharper, and it’s just a best-of-5 series right now. That’s our attitude.”
This also bodes well to his personal prediction of the series going the distance, as Guiao believes that the longer the series goes, the better it gets for NLEX.
“We expect this to be a long series,” he said. “I know that the absence of Ping is going to put a lot of pressure or prolong the minutes of Ian (Sangalang) and their other bigs, so if we can play more games, maybe that can have an effect towards the end of the series. The same thing with Paul (Lee), we’ll just keep putting on the pressure and see if that will have an effect in the series.”
“I hope we can keep prolonging it because I feel that the longer the series goes, the bigger our advantage should be.”
Game 3 is on Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.