Juami Tiongson (left) will be sitting this one out, giving rookie Stephen Holt more responsibilIties. —AUGUST DELA CRUZ
Terrafirma’s streak faces a significant challenge as the Dyip tries to navigate its way around a perennial contender in TNT in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday.
Coach Johnedel Cardel, though, is drawing plenty from his charges’ nipping of NLEX last week which gave the perennial whipping boys their first back-to-back wins in a long while and the confidence to slug it out with the league’s big boys.
“I’ve been seeing the change-up in the team. Even in the scrimmages, they’re competing,” he said in Filipino. “I told them that it’s the quality [we need] to be ready for big teams like TNT, San Miguel Beer, or Ginebra so we are able to compete and have a chance to win.”
A Terrafirma win will give the franchise its first three-game winning streak and validate the team’s belief that it can change the narrative as far as being the league’s favorite whipping boys.
Top scorer out
Game time is at 4 p.m. with Terrafirma hoping to hike its 2-1 win-loss record on the improving performances of this year’s top draft pick Stephen Holt and sophomore Javi Gomez de Liaño who was recently named by the PBA Press Corps as its Player of the Week.
“I’m a complete team player,” Gomez de Liaño told the Inquirer. “If [other teams] focus their scouting on me, then great, because I’ll be setting up my teammates. That’s my priority—helping the team more than anything else.”
It will be imperative for the two players to sustain their fine form as Juami Tiongson could miss the clash due to the flu, as confirmed to the Inquirer.
“Wrong timing,” he said of possibly leading his squad past the battle-hardened Tropang Giga who are at 1-1 slate. “Hopefully, I’ll feel better tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, NorthPort is also hoping to claim its third win in four games when it battles NLEX at 8 p.m.
The Batang Pier flunked their own acid test after falling to Magnolia, 112-74, last week. They will have a chance to turn things around with NLEX to miss Kevin Alas. INQ