Judging from Game 1, NLEX looks all set to complete a historic tournament sweep today.
And coach Boyet Fernandez wants his team to grab the opportunity as the Road Warriors go for a third straight crown on top of a perfect 13-game run against Big Chill in the PBA D-League Foundation Cup today.
“Given a chance, we’d like to get it,” said Fernandez. “It’s an achievement not only for me but also for the whole NLEX organization.”
Game 2 of the best-of-three title series is set at 2:30 p.m. right after the league honors the top individual performers at 2 p.m. at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.
But the task of spoiling NLEX’s rare bid doesn’t seem to intimidate coach Robert Sison even if his Superchargers got drubbed in the series opener, 86-71, last Tuesday.
“We’ve been here before,” said Sison. “In the semifinals (against Cebuana Lhuillier), we were also down 0-1 but we were able to overcome it.”
The Superchargers aim to forge a deciding Game 3 behind Alex Mallari, Keith Jensen, Jam Cortes, Jessie Collado and Jewel Ponferrada.
“We worked so hard to get in the finals and we don’t want to lose grip of our dreams just because of that defeat in Game 1,” said Sison.
Cliff Hodge, who is set to receive the Best Player plum, just had to do enough with Calvin Abueva, Ian Sangalang and RR Garcia already taking charge in the Road Warriors’ dominant start.