CHICAGO — After fielding just nine players and their head coach missing in action during last Wednesday’s 60-point loss to NLEX, I believed the Macau Giant Pandas are going to fold like an umbrella for the rest of this Season 50 PBA Governors’ Cup.
With a 2-7 won-lost record and three games left in their schedule, they have nothing meaningful to play for and are better off mailing it in, right?
READ: Tiongco gets surprise Macau coaching call just hours before game
Wrong.
A team official reached out to me on Thursday night to assure PBA fans that the Giant Pandas will not sully their reputation as a guest team.
And that means competing to win regardless of their record.
UNDERMANNED.
But why did the Giant Pandas have only nine players?
“When a handful of our players left for the EASL, the PBA didn’t allow us to change or add players. We also cannot sign free agents," the official said.
“We are only allowed to play those players who have been added to the roster and submitted to the PBA since Day One.”
Adding to their woes was the personal emergency coach Marcus Elliott had to deal with “on the day of his flight,” forcing the team to tap Raymund Tiongco as a last-minute replacement.
But the recently-ended 53-day break of this conference was the main cause of Macau’s hardships.
LONG LAYOFF.
“We didn’t know it was that long and it became difficult because the Chinese are only allowed two weeks in Manila and have to keep flying back and forth,” the Macau team official added.
There you go, I jumped the gun on Macau’s circumstances.
Not the first time I made a fool of myself. Won’t be the last time, either.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
