PBA: Maturity fuels Mahindra’s strong start

The Mahindra Enforcers bench. PBA IMAGES

One of the biggest surprises in the 2016 PBA Commissioner’s Cup is definitely Mahindra’s strong start, putting them among the leaders early in conference.

LA Revilla believes the Enforcers are just reaping the rewards of the hard work they put in since last season.

“We always preach sa team that we want consistency and we always want to challenge ourselves kung saan talaga yung kaya namin. We just want to improve every time,” he said. “We just continue to grow. Kung ano yung mga pagkakamali namin in past conferences, we just try to improve on that.”

And following its 106-99 victory against NLEX on Friday, Mahindra rose to solo second spot with a 3-1
slate.

Revilla knows that the team’s current tear is an product of the team’s maturity, as well as the Enforcers’ collective will to finish the game strong.

“It’s a credit to my teammates for not giving up,” he said. “Closing quarters is a big thing for us. Although today, we still had some lapses, we’ll just keep improving on that.”

Mahindra controlled majority of the game before a late NLEX run gave the Road Warriors an 88-85 lead midway in the fourth frame.

But the team’s leaders in import Augustus Gilchrist, and veterans Nino Canaleta and Aldrech Ramos drained big buckets in the end game, capped off by Revilla closing it out with two huge layups in the last two minutes.

“Hindi naman kami aabot sa ganitong point kung wala kaming maturity,” the diminutive playmaker noted.

And the rise just brings good things as a whole, especially for the Enforcers who are yet to break through in the playoffs.

Revilla said that the team is aspiring to first make it past the eliminations, but it doesn’t stop there.

“We’re dreaming for bigger things. Yung expectations sa sarili namin at sa team, ganun din,” he said.

“Siguro, we’ll just maximize every game. Kung ano yung makakaya namin, we just always want to win every game, so kung may pagkakataon, we’ll just get it.”