ANTIPOLO — Yeng Guiao couldn't seem to make up his mind when asked to choose between two great comebacks pulled off by NLEX in the PBA Governors Cup.
“Parehong parang milagro lang eh,” said Guiao after the Road Warriors overcame a 26-point deficit to beat Magnolia, 86-85. Just last month, NLEX won over Ginebra, 113-111, in Dubai after trailing by as many as 28 points.
Guiao paused to gather his thoughts before answering the questions.
“Minsan mas masarap, mas maganda ‘yung may tsamba ka talaga, may suwerte ka. To pull through in those two games, behind by 20-plus points, almost giving up and still winning the game and doing it twice, baka may tama na rin kaming ginagawa. Baka hindi lang tsamba. We might be doing something right also.”
“It’s also the competitive spirit, the same spirit in Dubai, that’s the same thing we showed here. I think that was the kind of character that we need going into the tougher stage of the conference," the veteran coach continued.
"Hindi ko na masabi kung ano ‘yung mas masarap na pakiramdam, ‘yung Dubai o eto. Pero kasi, ‘yung sa Dubai, Ginebra ‘yung tinalo mo. Dito naman, defending champion ‘yung tinalo mo. Wala kang tulak kabigin. Parehong masarap manalo.”
Guiao admitted he was ready to throw in the towel after NLEX trailed big in the second quarter, seeing that a loss might serve as a reality check to a streaking team that has won four straight games prior to the Magnolia match.
“I almost gave up on it actually in the first half. I was telling my assistant coaches, maybe even if we lose, it’s going to be good for us because we need to feel that we are still not that good," Guiao said.
"Hindi pa kami ganun kagaling kaya maybe a loss will be good for us. That’s what we are talking about at halftime. But the boys refused to lose. They didn’t want to lose. Credit goes to them,” he added
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