RAYMOND Tiongco suddenly found himself in the limelight by coaching the Macau Giant Pandas in their return to the PBA Governors’ Cup on Wednesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Tiongco had to call the shots for the Pandas as regular coach Marcus Elliot was still in the US attending to some personal matter.
The former Terrafirma head coach said he was actually surprised when he was asked to take over the coaching job just hours before the Pandas were to take on league leader NLEX Road Warriors.
READ: NLEX wallops depleted Macau in most lopsided game in PBA history
“Nagulat nga ako, e. Sinabihan na ako na muna ang mag-coach,” said Tiongco.
Unfortunately, Tiongco and the Pandas were on the receiving end of the worst losing margin in the PBA history as the Road Warriors dealt them a 138-78 beating.
The 60-point winning margin is the all-time highest in the league’s 50-year history, eclipsing Rain or Shine’s 151-95 rout of Blackwater in the second conference Commissioner’s Cup.
The absence of the 42-year-old Elliot further compounded the personnel shortage of Macau, which showed up for the game against NLEX with just nine players, including new import Oscar Lopez.
During the long break, the Giant Pandas lost regular players Damian Chongqui, Ramon Cao, Jenning Leung, and import De’Vondre Perry, who all signed up with different teams seeing action in the East Asia Super League.
Tiongco said he doesn’t foresee himself coaching Macau in its remaining three games in the conference.
“Hindi siguro,” he replied when asked about the scenario. “Helper lang ako dito. Tumutulong lang ako.”
Tiongco though has no idea on when Elliot will be coming back.
“Nasa US pa kasi siya may inaayos yata na family matter,” he added.
The loss sent the Giant Pandas to a 2-7 record and on the brink of failing to reach the playoffs for the second straight conference as it currently shares the bottom of Group A standings with Titan Ultra.
Macau’s last three games will be against Terrafirma, defending champion TNT, and Converge.
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.
