CHICAGO - A chance to annex a franchise-best nine wins to end the PBA Philippine Cup elimination round would have been nice. So was the potential perk of being the No.1 seed in the playoffs.
But the greater goal was to secure twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals and NLEX already had that in its back pocket before arriving at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Wednesday.
That being said, the Road Warriors' 113-108 loss at the hands of NorthPort rendered little meaning other than the wounded pride of falling to the Arvin Tolentino-orphaned franchise that was roughing through an eight-game losing streak.
SCENARIOS: Six-way logjam for second seed now possible
Putting Robert Bolick out there where he canned 16 points in 30 minutes of action left little doubt that NLEX had eased its feet off the gas while already looking forward to the postseason.
However, suiting up just nine players was too much of a handicap even against the self-confidence-starved Batang Pier.
LITTLE BIG THREE.
Without the injured JaVee Mocon, Domick Fajardo and Anthony Semarad, the Road Warriors' energy and enthusiasm dipped to baseline levels.
Entering Wednesday night's encounter, Mocon had averaged 11.2 points and 7.4 rebounds while Fajardo turned in 5.8 points and 3.2 boards. Semarad logged a modest 7.4 points an outing while shooting a dangerous 37.8 percent from 3.
As great as Bolick has been this conference (18.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game), the Road Warriors will have an uphill battle in the quarterfinals without Mocon, Fajardo and Semarad regardless of which opponents they face for a shot at a semifinals berth.
Still, NLEX's woes shouldn't take anything away from the fine efforts of two Batang Pier players - Cade Flores and Fran Yu.
Flores proved too be a man among boys with a Herculean 26 points and 15 rebounds while the 5-foot-9 Yu stood tall with a 21-point output that saw him drill 8-of-11 field goals including 5-of-7 from 3.
THERE WAS ONE WRINKLE IN TONIGHT'S OTHERWISE ENTERTAINING GAME.
With less than 10 seconds left on the game clock and his team nursing a four-point lead, Flores was swarmed by three Road Warriors' players and immediately fouled.
However, and much to the surprise of the broadcast panel, it was Joshua Munzon who took the free throws, hitting 1-of-2 before the referees discovered the anomaly.
At a 50 percent clip this conference, Flores is a notoriously bad free throw shooter, and I can understand why he didn't want to step in the charity stripe in that situation. But why did Munzon knowingly assume the responsibility knowing that he wasn't the player the Road Warriors fouled?
The not-so-subtle switch cost the Batang Pier a technical foul shot that could have had dire consequences had NLEX's Robert Herndon not missed it.
In the end, though, it shouldn't have come to that had the referees simply did their jobs.
Hopefully, this isn't the kind of amateurish, bush league officiaitng we will see in the playoffs.
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