ANTIPOLO – Mike Nieto and Gian Mamuyac nearly sent TNT crashing as the two Rain or Shine youngsters played one of the best games in their PBA career.
Nieto and Mamuyac combined to score all the 16 points – eight each – in the fourth quarter for the Elastopainters. But their efforts went for naught as Rain or Shine dropped an 89-85 loss to TNT in overtime on Thursday.
Their performance drew praise from TNT coach Chot Reyes, who incidentally is the concurrent mentor of Gilas Pilipinas. Mamuyac is one of the rookies drafted by Gilas Pilipinas for its pool, while Nieto was once a member of the national team when it was still handled by Tab Baldwin.
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“I told them, after the game, I told Gian and Mike Nieto, those two guys almost beat us,” said Reyes.
The 25-year-old Nieto finished with 19 points, two short of his career-high, to go along with eight rebounds while shooting 3-of-9 from threes. Mamuyac, 23, was all over the court as he had 18 points, six rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
Reyes said TNT was forced to adjust on defense because of the play of the two players.
“They had some great shots. We had to really adjust our defensive schemes to be able to stop them.”
“When we were defending them with our regular schemes, they were just picking it apart. In the end, we had to put somebody already like Kelly [Williams] on Mike Nieto and even Roger Pogoy giving a lot of help on Gian. Great, great games from those two guys,” said Reyes.
Despite the praise, the two former Ateneo players said they'd rather win the game.
“We lost the game,” said Nieto, drafted in 2019 during the PBA Gilas draft. “Wala naman kaming pakialam sa individual performance namin. Ang gusto namin, ‘yung one win sa standings. Step-by-step. We know that we are a young team.”
Mamuyac, the No. 5 pick in the recent draft, said: “Any given night naman sa roster namin, kahit sino kayang magkaroon ng ganung game. Sabi nga ni Mike, it’s a learning process. Step-by-step. Getting better. Sabi nga ni coach Chris, this is probably the best game we’ve played this year. We are looking to follow it up sa next games namin. Sana tuloy-tuloy lang kami mag-progress as a team.”
Nieto confirmed that Reyes gave him and Mamuyac a few encouraging words, saying that it was also huge for their morale since it is also their dream to learn from Reyes at some point of their careers.
“Nag-congrats si coach Chot sa amin. Good game. Dream din namin ni Mamu na, kasi si coach Chot is one of the best coaches here in the Philippines. Sana mabigyan kami ng chance to learn from coach Chot and coming from coach Chot na ‘yun, it’s a big thing for us. Congrats sa Talk ‘N Text,” said Nieto.
Rain or Shine fell to 1-4 win-loss following the defeat, occupying the 11th spot with only Terrafirma below them with a 0-4 slate.
Nieto, however, noted the need for him and his fellow young guys to develop quicker with an intent to give the Rain or Shine veterans another run at the PBA crown.
“But sabi nga namin, hindi na bumabata sila Kuya Beau, Kuya Gabe. Even though we are a young team, we want to give them another championship. ‘Yun ang talagang pinaglalaban namin. Kasi ‘yung respeto at pagmamahal na binigay ng mga beterano sa amin, grabe. We want to repay them. Talo kami ngayon, but we will learn from it, watch the video with coach Chris and step-by-step sa process,” said Nieto.
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