IT was a long night for some of the players, coaches, and staff of Eastern.
The PBA 49th Season Commissioner’s Cup guest team is scheduled to make a trip back to Hong Kong in the wee hours of the Saturday morning as they have a scheduled match in their domestic league on Sunday.
Not all though will be in that Saturday, 3 a.m. flight as the likes of Cameron Clark, Hayden Blankley, and Kobey Lam will be staying in Manila, but coach Mensur Bajramovic said it posed problems for the team ahead of its match-up against Converge.
READ Eastern stays unbeaten, deals Converge a deflating defeat
“We have to travel back to Hong Kong to play local league,” said the Bosnian coach, who is part of the HK-bound group. “Some of the players will stay here. We go there and play a game on Sunday and be back again here and then play three games in a row.”
Eastern will be facing Tycoon in the Hong Kong A1 Division Championship in that Sunday game. The two teams are undefeated with Eastern at first with 5-0 followed by Tycoon with 4-0.
In the PBA, Eastern stayed unbeaten, taking the early lead in the team standings with a 2-0 win-loss slate after a 117-106 win over Converge.
When they come back to Manila after that Sunday game, Bajramovic is bracing for another tough outing as Eastern plays Rain or Shine on Wednesday, TNT on Friday, and Blackwater on December 10.
“Difficult schedule. I hope we survive,” said Bajramovic.
Bajramovic said he is handling three versions of Eastern ballclubs in the different leagues they are playing – the PBA, EASL, and the Hong Kong domestic league.
A couple of local players who are in the PBA will also play in the domestic competition. Eastern also has a second import in Chris McLaughlin, who plays in the EASL and the Hong Kong league but is also in Manila to watch the team’s games.
“The biggest problem is each competitions we play, we have different teams,” said Bajramovic. “We have two imports, Cameron is here and we have Chris. They can play both in the EASL, but in the local league, only one and playing there is Chris.
“Some of the local players play here and there, others cannot. It’s a hard job for me to be honest to keep them in the right shape all the time. But we are a good group."
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.
