A brutal schedule awaits everyone in PBA resumption, but teams are ready to face it head on

It’s going to be a tough grind to catch up on play dates following a series of scrubbed games. But everyone’s ready to plunge into action. —PHOTO COURTESY OF PBA IMAGES

The heaviness of what had been a turbulent week has started to wear off inside the PBA’s bubble after the league announced a resumption of games after a brief postponement.

Quest Hotel’s common areas, particularly the swimming pool, were again teeming with athletes, who were making the most out of the short lull to recuperate from what has been a demanding month in the league’s self-contained zone.

It was a stark contrast to pall of uncertainty that hovered above the league after a government health agency recommended a pause in hostilities to revisit and upgrade health protocols designed to keep the environment free from the coronavirus.

“There was that worry that we might have a case or something,” Bong Ravena, the head coach of Philippine Cup-leading TNT told the Inquirer. “Thank God we’re all negative here so we can now move on again, back to normal.”

Well, some kind of normal at least.

The league announced on Saturday it is resuming its quest to crown an all-Filipino champion, a day after it agreed to postpone games on the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) and the Department of Health (DOH).

Teams can now return to practice starting on Sunday. The games resume on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

But the sigh of relief was over quickly. And the league and its teams now have to confront a daunting task.

“This short window will allow us to reflect, and get back to the drawing board to look for flaws and what else we’re lacking,” TNT coach Bong Ravena, told the Inquirer as the pace-setting Tropang Giga made their way to the jogging area on Saturday afternoon, joining Barangay Ginebra and Meralco.

“It’s always good news when you’re given direction,” Blackwater counterpart Nash Racela said as he was taking a short coffee break with his staff at the lobby.

“Now that’s everything’s been cleared, we can now proceed to put together game plans and [managing] our schedule. We could all finally look forward to playing again,” he added.

And what a schedule that will be.

PBA commissioner Willie Marcial announced a bold plan to finish 30 games in nine days in an effort to finish the elimination round by Nov. 11.

“It’s going to be tough, the schedule,” Ravena admitted. “But it is what it is. We just have to prepare.”

“I’m just happy we could get back to practicing again,” said Alaska mentor Jeff Cariaso, who admitted to being antsy in the days leading up to the announcement.

The brutal schedule will compress a tournament that was already compressed in the first place. So everyone is expected to take advantage of the minibreak.

“This break’s like the calm before a storm,” said Kevin Alas, the NLEX skipper who on Thursday damaged his nose in a collision with TNT star Jayson Castro.

“It’s a good thing for me as I try to rest my (injury),” he added. “This break is (only a prelude) going into the crucial stretch of the eliminations.”

The short break also allows Alas to get his hands on a protective mask that will prevent aggravating the hairline fracture on his nose.

Marcial told the Inquirer that the PBA is considering mounting four-a-day play dates to make up for the 10 games it has canceled due to the disruptions caused by the intervention of the IATF and the DOH and for scrubbed off games that came at the heels of a pair of false-positive cases.

“We’re looking at quadruple-headers and triple-headers,” he said over the phone as his staff, led by his deputy Eric Castro and Mauro Bengua begins drafting a new timetable, which the league’s chief said will likely be released on Sunday or Monday at the latest.

“We are still studying which options are viable,” he added. “At this point, we really can’t avoid having back-to-back games (for some teams).”

“It’s likely we’re going to play all our remaining six games in a span of nine days. While that’s not easy, we’re looking forward to it,” said Racela, whose team absorbed three schedule scratches.

The run of games have coaches paying a lot more attention to the mental front.

“We really have to put more premium on our focus, especially if things are going to be doubly compressed,” said Ravena.