Alas blasts Fuel Masters: ‘I feel like I’m taking care of children’

BIÑAN — There’s no way to sugarcoat it: Phoenix coach Louie Alas feels like he’s babysitting.

“Sad to say, I feel like I’m taking care of children,” he said following the Fuel Masters’ 115-120 overtime defeat to NLEX on Friday.

Alas was inconsolable after the Fuel Masters’ latest loss, calling them out for their “immaturity” as they dropped to 2-2 in the 2018 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

“That was really our problem, our immaturity,” said Alas, who was on his players’ ears in the post-game huddle, desperately trying to emphasize the importance of taking the game one possession at a time.

“I was telling them that we can’t think that what happened to us last conference will happen again. But that’s exactly what’s happening, it’s like a roller coaster.”

Alas singled out Phoenix import James White, whom Alas feels is threatened by the presence of Eugene Phelps who be the team’s import for the season-ending Governors’ Cup.

“I got an import who is very obedient and coachable. But the coaching staff are telling me that with our import for next conference here, James’ performance has dipped down. But I told James that he is my import. Whatever his confidence is, he shouldn’t change it,” he said.

But the problem isn’t limited to White only with Alas also acknowledging that his veterans are aat fault.

Not one to relish on moral victories, the bench tactician has laid down the challenge to his players as the Fuel Masters eye to bounce back against Ginebra next Sunday.

“All of the winnable games, we should win those. We can’t be ok that we just fought. We can’t be arguing every game what went wrong because we know there are defensive rules that weren’t followed. You can’t always make an excuse on immaturity or lack of concentration,” he said.

“I can take losing because of my game plan, but I can’t accept that we lost because we didn’t do what we’re supposed to do.”