Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
Magnolia coach Chito Victolero pleaded for his bench to step up following its 79-91 Game 4 defeat to NLEX on Friday as their 2018 PBA Philippine Cup semifinals was dead-even once again at two games apiece.
“We just try to fill in what we’ve lost from the injuries of Marc (Pingris) and Justin (Melton). We need to find ways,” he said.
Victolero rued how the Hotshots reserves were outplayed by their Road Warriors counterparts, losing 30-68 in bench points.
“We need the other bigs like Aldrech (Ramos), Kyle (Pascual), and Rodney (Brondial) to step up so that we’ll get something from them on both ends. We really need them,” the mentor said. “This has already been a long series, so we really need contributions from everyone.”
Victolero, however, knows that the blame isn’t solely on his reserves as even he admits that the team as a whole played lackadaisical in Game 4.
“I think we were outplayed and outhustled by NLEX. They really wanted the win,” he said.
“We had a bad start in the second half, a 14-0 run for them. And that’s exactly what I told them after we came out of the dugout at halftime, that if we want to win this game, we needed a strong start in the third quarter. But NLEX was more ready in this game,” he said.
Magnolia saw a close 39-41 affair eventually turn into a blowout as NLEX erected a 39-55 advantage in the third quarter.
Though the Hotshots were still able to got to within nine in the payoff period, Kevin Alas, Larry Fonacier, and ultimately, Kiefer Ravena were there to end their comeback bids and take the victory for the Road Warriors.
Going back to square one with the series even at 2-all, Victolero rallied Magnolia to buckle down to work as it faces the prospect one once again failing to advance to the Finals like in the past.
“It’s down to a best-of-3 series. We need to play together and stay together. We experienced it last season and if it goes to a best-of-7, we can’t do anything about it. But we’ll take it one game at a time,” he said.
Game 5 is on Sunday at Ynares Center in Antipolo.