RAIN or Shine coach Chris Gavina lauded the effort of Mike Nieto, whom he described as one of the most hardworking players he has ever seen in practice.
Gavina on Mike Nieto debut
Nieto had 21 points in his PBA debut to help Rain or Shine beat NorthPort, 104-90, on its way to their third win in six outings.
Gavina said Nieto’s play is a result of his hardwork in practice which he showed on the first day.
“I’ve never seen anyone have more wood burns on his first day of practice than Mike Nieto as long as I’ve been here,” Gavina revealed. “Credit to the top player that he is and the intensity and the effort that he brings day in and day out.”
With his effort in practice, Gavina said that it seems like the game is much easier for Nieto.
“He probably works harder in practice than in the game,” said Gavina. “He is having fun out there.”

Nieto’s effort definitely proved his doubters wrong which began when he was taken in as part of the Gilas Pilipinas pool two years ago.
“We are glad he came in and injected energy and effort for us to come out with a big win tonight,” said Gavina.
Nieto got a lot of touches in the game and finished with an 8 of 17 clip from the field. He also drained four triples while also falling two rebounds short of a double-double.
“Mike’s nickname is ‘All Day Nieto.’ We don’t really have to tell him to try to look for his shots. It’s kinda comes organically. His extra effort shows. Majority of his shots probably came from opportunities. Once his teammates saw that he was making shots, they were finding him every single time as much as possible.”
“All Mike was doing was making our lives happy by making shots,” said Gavina.
Gavina said Nieto is definitely a huge addition to the team in their bid to go deep into the conference.
“I always preach just trust the work. And Mike has already bought in right away. You could see the results today. His international experience is big because he brings that level of confidence with him to the team and he is constantly talking to Anton, Andrei, Javee. It relieves a lot of pressure from Javee and Rey knowing that we have somebody like that in our addition to our roster. They don’t so much pressure on themselves to try to put everything on their shoulders,” said Gavina.
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