CHOT Reyes played down the small endgame exchange he had with rookie star Mikey Williams in TNT’s 106-93 drubbing of Blackwater on Friday in the PBA Governors Cup.
Apparently, the Fil-Am guard didn’t like the decision of Reyes to take him out of the game with a minute left to play and the Tropang Giga on the way to claiming their third straight win for a 5-4 record.
The incident according to Reyes, is but just a normal occurrence within the team, not only with Williams but with other players as well.
The champion coach added its part of the TNT culture which he referred to as ‘productive conflict.’
“Normal naman yun di ba, na kapag tinatanggal, nagre-react sila na, bakit daw sila ilalabas. So sabi ko, e di ikaw na lang ang mag-coach,” said Reyes in jest.
But seriously, the TNT coach said he doesn’t mind his players answering back at him, adding he always encouraged open communication within the team.
“It’s OK to have conflict, basta lahat tayo going for the win. There are some things that we do that he’s not in agreement with; there are some thing he does that I’m not in agreement with, then we tell it to each other openly,” explained the concurrent Gilas Pilipinas coach.
Nothing out of the ordinary
Reyes said he also had similar heated exchanges with other TNT players like Jayson Castro, but always about the professional side of the game and never personal.
“We always have those things. Like I said, I’m much better na magsigawan kami kung gusto nila, but in the end, we know we just all want to win.”
Williams, the Finals MVP in the last Philippine Cup and a leading contender for the Rookie and MVP honors, ended up leading TNT with 23 points, six rebounds, two assists, and shot 5-fo-12 from three-point range.
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