IN the PBA playoffs for the first time, Javi Gomez De Liano vows to make the most of the opportunity to gain respect not only for himself but for the entire Terrafirma organization.
The No. 8 seeded Dyip play top seed San Miguel Beermen in the Philippine Cup quarterfinals on Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
And giving the Beermen a good fight, De Liano believes, would further earn the team the respect it has long been yearning for.
“Little by little we can gain the respect of everyone in the organization because I think we deserve it as well,” said De Liano.
“We’ve been working hard and throughout the years, we’ve been receiving bashing and not just good reviews. But I hope with this playoff campaign, we can change the narrative.”
De Liano played a major role in Terrafirma's run to a first-ever quarterfinals berth in eight years, scoring 21 points in the Dyip’s 104-96 win over Northport Batang Pier in the battle for the eighth and last quarterfinals berth.
Formidable task for Dyip
Now, the Dyip will be up against the best team at the end of the eliminations, which only lost once in 11 games.
San Miguel held off Terrafirma, 113-110, in their lone encounter this conference behind the late-game heroics of Mo Tautuaa.
De Liano expects their playoffs rematch to be just the same - close and intense.
“I think it’s going to be a good series. We only lost by three points the previous game and we were actually leading. Sa dulo lang kami nag-collapse,” recalled the former University of the Philippines standout.
“We just need to watch the film again and review what we could do better in terms of playing San Miguel.”
De Liano also stressed the Dyip are not afraid of the Beermen and are not backing down against their mighty opponents.
“Let’s say San Miguel sila, but we’re not intimidated,” said the sophomore wingman.
“We just have to do our part and play our best. Definitely, we have to bring out our best game against San Miguel.”
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