MANILA, Philippines—Despite its recent slide, a playoff berth is within the distance for Alaska in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup with but head coach Alex Compton still couldn’t help but be concerned.
The Aces are at a precarious seventh seed with a 4-5 record following their third straight loss.
“I think the no.1 description of a coach’s job is to worry, I think that’s what we’re paid to do,” said Compton after the Aces’ 118-106 loss to Barangay Ginebra. “We could be 8-0 and I’ll find reasons to worry. We have two games left that we need to win.”
Those two games are against playoff-hopeful Blackwater and Rain or Shine with the Elite holding the fourth seed with a 5-3 card while the Elasto Painters are at the eighth with a 3-4 slate.
The road is a bit tougher for the Aces, who need to assimilate import Diamon Simpson quicker after a mid-conference change.
Simpson replaced Chris Daniels in his third stint with the Aces, which he led the franchise to the 2010 Fiesta Conference title.
The lanky import was stellar in his return with 22 points and 22 rebounds but Compton said Simpson can still do a better job of playing within the team’s system.
“My take away from this part is with Diamon having limited practices, hopefully, we can have more time to get him up to speed, clean some things up,” said Compton. “I think we’ll get better.”
“I think if we fight like this, we’ll get better and give ourselves a chance. I love Diamon, I have nothing bad to say to him, he’s my type of guy. He’s a great teammate, a great defender, and he’s a winner.”