TNT coach Chot Reyes arrived at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum for Game 7 with the mindset that the pressure isn’t on the side of their squad as they vie for the Commissioner’s Cup finals.
“Nobody expected us to be here [in the finals],” said Reyes in a conversation with a member of the TV panel upon his arrival at the Big Dome.
READ: Chot Reyes, Tim Cone set to break deadlock in finals Game 7 face-offs
That was Reyes’ same message to the team last Tuesday after they returned to practice following the Game 5 loss to Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals.
Reyes said he felt his team felt the pressure of the finals during the Game 5 loss, which is why he opted for TNT to have a break after the defeat.
“I think it's a good idea to sometimes just step back,” said Reyes after TNT won Game 6, 87-83, last Wednesday to force a winner-take-all.
“Step back and let the guys get their minds off basketball for a bit because I said, I thought the pressure was getting to us.”
Reyes felt that it should not be the case as he believes that TNT isn’t expected to be in the finals especially after the injury of Jayson Castro due to a ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee.
“And I said, no pressure. Nobody expected us to compete against this team. We were not even expected to get to the finals when we lost Jayson [in the] Rain or Shine series. And then who would have thought that we would battle a team like that without last year’s Finals MVP.”
“I said, don’t let the pressure get to you. So the best way I could show that to them was to give them a dayoff. Take the day off, relax, recover, recharge,” said Reyes.
Reyes definitely hopes that his attitude would rub off for Game 7.
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