Balkman: Alab must regain defensive identity after high-scoring Game 1

Photo from ASEAN Basketball League

STA. ROSA — Renaldo Balkman is pleased that San Miguel Alab Pilipinas pulled off a gutsy 143-130 overtime victory over Mono Vampire in Game 1 of the 2018 ASEAN Basketball League Finals.

Balkman, however, is worried how Alab allowed itself to play Thailand’s kind of pace that nearly cost them the game.

“I don’t think we played the way we’re supposed to play. Even though it’s 143 points, we’re a defensive team and that shouldn’t be happening with us,” he said.

Though Alab has had games this season where they exceeded the century mark, this offensive showcase surely was a cause of concern for Balkman.

San Miguel Alab shot 54 percent from the field while allowing Mono Vampire to shoot 51 percent from the field and that’s a big no-no for Balkman.

“We gotta go back in it this week, with the couple days we have until Wednesday, and see what happened and what went wrong,” he said. “We won the game, but that’s not us. We’ve never given up that many points this whole year. We gotta go back there and say that you know what, we can’t give them 130 points. We can’t give up 60 points in a quarter. That’s too much for us.”

Game 2 of the 2018 ASEAN Basketball League Finals is on Wednesday still at Sta. Rosa Multipurpose Complex.