Alas proves Guiao right with barrage of treys en route to career game

FILE – Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net

BOCAUE — NLEX coach Yeng Guiao knew how good of an offensive threat Kevin Alas could be once he fully develops his outside shooting.

“I’ve been getting on Kevin’s outside shooting the last few games, I’ve been asking him to take outside shots, come early in the morning in practice and practice those outside shots. I’ve been telling him that he’s underusing his outside game and he’s relying so much on his slashing ability and the defense were already sagging off him,” Guiao said.

Alas remembered Guiao’s words, and on Sunday, the fourth-year guard, heeded his coach’s advice.

In his best offensive night in the pros, the 26-year-old fired on all cylinders at Philippine Arena, draining four of his five triples in the fourth period to carry NLEX to a 93-90 squeaker over Blackwater.

That performance garnered Alas a new career-high of 25 points, on 5-of-12 shooting from downtown, to go with eight rebounds and five assists as the Road Warriors clinched a spot in the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals.

Asked what led to his stupendous showing, the 26-year-old said that it was just a matter of him trusting Guiao’s system while also seeking to perform better than his 15-point effort against Alaska last week.

“I was locked in. I played ok last game but coach said that I shouldn’t be satisfied,” he shared. “I just wanted to repay the trust coach has been giving me.”

His explosion came at the right time for the Road Warriors, who was banking largely on Kiefer Ravena majority of the game before finding another offensive weapon in Alas.

“We’re down and Kiefer was playing well. The focus of the defense was on him so I felt someone had to step up. We can’t rely on Kiefer alone and I’m happy that we’re both able to play well,” he said as that opened the floodgates for the others like Cyrus Baguio and Rabeh Al-Hussaini to make big plays down the stretch.

With the famed NLEX backcourt now clicking, Alas is keeping his fingers crossed that this will only be the beginning of what Guiao labeled as his “K-and-K” combo.

“I hope we’ll be consistent. I wish this is already the start for me and Kiefer to play better in our coming games,” he said.