WELCOME to Manila, coach Mensur Bajramovic and the entire Eastern team.
For the first time, the guest team from Hong Kong got a full taste of the Manila’s notorious traffic as they almost came in late for their PBA Commissioner’s Cup game against TNT Tropang Giga on Friday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Eastern braved the bumper-to-bumper traffic from its hotel at the Araneta Center all the way to Malate for almost three hours and arrived at the venue an hour before its scheduled 7:30 p.m. match against the reigning Governors’ Cup champion.
READ Eastern deals TNT a beating in its conference debut
The team actually didn’t lose much time while on board the team bus as the players used the time to have their feet taped for the game, according to the Bosnian coach.
“This was a big problem, we had our players taped in the bus, and resting in the bus because we didn’t fix well the time we need (going to the venue). Now we know Manila very well,” he said with a big smile on his face.
It was the third time Eastern saw action at the NAS, and Bajramovic said it’s the first time the team came late for the game.
“This is the third game we played here in this gym, same distance to the hotel. The first game we came normally, we had a lot of time before (the game),” he recalled. “The second game, a little bit late. But this game, we came straight to the warm-up.
“Now we’ll make sure we change our time of leaving the hotel to come here.”
But the anxiety the team went through while travelling hardly showed in the game as it dominated TNT in the second half on the way to a 105-84 win.
Cameron Clark, a many-time Manila visitor, dropped 36 points and 14 rebounds in Eastern’s third win in four outings.
Hayden Blankley and Glen Yang, who were based in the country for almost a year from 2022-23, were a combined 44 points in the 19-point blowout victory.
“Yes, it (traffic) was really a problem to be honest, if you’re asking about this. From the bus straight to the court is not good,” said Bajramovic. “So it’s more concern for me about this game.
“But the biggest concern actually was TNT, the team we played against.”
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