WITH teams seemingly shifting to playing at a faster pace while ramping up the scoreboard in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup, NLEX coach Jong Uichico is content with how his team is going against the flow of the times.
The Road Warriors have locked in defensively and it has resulted in a solid start for coach Uichico's boys, going 3-1 in the early goings of the PBA’s so-called crown jewel after besting the Meralco Bolts, 89-85, on Sunday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
READ: Bahio, Bolick combine to put away NLEX win over Meralco
In three of the four games of NLEX, it has only given up 85 points or less, all of which resulting in wins. It’s not surprising that the only time the Road Warriors lost was when they gave up over 90 points to a team which happened in their shock 97-91 defeat to Terrafirma.
“Hindi naman talaga namin kayang i-outscore yung mga teams e. Hindi kami ganun,” Uichico said on Sunday.
“Buti kung ganun kami okay ako, pero dapat kilalananin mo yung team mo kung hanggang saan mo kaya yung opensa niyo and then you try to defend the best way you can. And hopefully your gameplan works.”
Their gameplan is certainly working as they’re now in a five-way tie atop the Philippine Cup standings together with league powerhouses Magnolia and TNT, and independent flag bearers Rain or Shine and Converge.
Now in his second year handling the Road Warriors, the nine-time PBA champion and two-time Coach of the Year’s vision for NLEX is starting to materialize.
While NLEX have been heavily reliant on Robert Bolick explosions in the past to carry them before, heroes have come aplenty for the Road Warriors this conference – evident when they even beat San Miguel without their prolific all-around guard to start their conference.
All Uichico wants is to see a team who believes, and competes - something that he’s getting now from his boys.
“Ang vision ko lang naman sa NLEX is for us to compete with the strong teams. If we compete every day bahala na yung resulta kasi wala naman kaming control but we need to compete talaga every game,” he said.
“If we don’t compete, our chances of winning games lessen. We try to out work and we try to out execute the opponent. That’s what we try to do every given day. That’s how we’ll have the chance of getting some wins.”
The perfect man in the middle for NLEX
Perhaps there’s no one in Uichico’s squad who perfectly encapsulates that identity than NLEX's unheralded big in JB Bahio.
Left unsigned after being drafted in the third round of the PBA Season 48 draft by Terrafirma, Bahio is now one of the cornerstones of this Road Warriors squad, with his unassuming and no-nonsense approach to things perfectly fitting into what Uichico wants to see from his boys.
The 6’5 forward-center from San Beda is posting near double-double averages of 13.2 points and 9.5 rebounds per game through four games of the season.
And he’s doing most of his damage by just playing within the system – finding good positions for his guards to locate him, or cleaning up after his teammates by getting second chance points.
“JB has gone a long way. He really works hard. Kaya pinagpapala siya e. He works hard. Ang primary purpose naman niyan is to rebound which he’s doing really well,” Uichico said.
“Pero now, nagkakaron siya ng scoring threat, it’s showing in the last two games and that’s the next step naman sa pag iimprove niya.”
For Bahio, it’s all about simply repaying his coach and his team’s trust – with NLEX the one giving him an opportunity to strut his wares in the pros after being left unsigned by the Dyip two years ago.
“Sinusuklian ko lang yung tiwala niya sa hardwork ko by doing extra sa practices at sipag sa game,” he said.
“Sa system naman ni coach Jong, lahat naman gumagalaw. Screen, control, yung plays naman namin may point of attack kung sino titira at sino shoo-shoot."
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