PBA: Kadeem Jack stays positive despite Northport’s Game 1 loss

NorthPort import Kadeem Jack drives against Barangay Ginebra import Justin Brownlee during the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals. –PBA IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines—Northport import Kadeem Jack made sure to keep the Batang Pier’s spirits up despite dropping Game 1 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals at the hands of Ginebra.

The Batang Pier found themselves on the losing end of a  115-93 beatdown from the Gin Kings At Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday.

Jack, though, said that Northport is still in high morale considering the team still have chances left to right the ship with the semifinals being a best-of-seven series.

LIVE: PBA semifinals Game 1 – TNT vs Rain or Shine, Ginebra vs NorthPort

“It’s a long series so we have to make sure we’re up and ready to play. Everybody will make mistakes but we want to make sure we make no mistakes,” said the Batang Pier’s import at Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday night.

“This is how series go. You win some and you lose some…. I just reminded them that the mistakes we made shouldn’t get compounded. That’s what championship teams are made of and that’s what we feel we are. Each game is a clean slate but we have to remember what we did in the previous games.”

Jack spearheaded the top-seeded Northport with a monster double-double of 33 points and 12 rebounds but it wasn’t enough as the Gin Kings used a huge third quarter surge to pull away from the Batang Pier.

READ: PBA: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Kadeem Jack pace Best import race

It also didn’t help their cause that star forward Arvin Tolentino was locked down on defense as he scored just eight points on an 18.2 percent field goal shooting clip. Joshua Munzon also struggled with just 10 points to his name.

When asked if the two-week PBA break played a factor in the Batang Pier’s surprising loss, Jack said “maybe,” but soon offered no excuses and said the team should be able to deliver even when they take a break for an unspecified amount of days.

“We’re in the playoffs. Stuff like that doesn’t matter. It’s our responsibility to win the game whether after a week, a month or a year off. Once it’s the playoffs, you have to win the game.”

“If there is rust then we have to shake it off because we still have a lot of games in a short period of time.”

Jack and the Batang Pier have 48 hours to try and shake off whatever rust they have for Game 2 against the Gin Kings at Philsports Arena on Friday.