ALASKA’S failure to defend its PBA Commissioner’s Cup title taught the Aces a valuable lesson in not taking things for granted, according to veteran big man Sonny Thoss.
The Aces looked very capable of repeating as champions when they won their last five games in the eliminations before carrying over the momentum in Game One of their quarterfinals series against San Mig on the way to an 86-77 win.
But unfortunately, the Aces blew an opportunity to close out the best-of-three affair by losing the last two games, allowing the Mixers to advance to the semifinals.
“(We learned) not to take things for granted but to just come out and be ready every game and leave everything on the line,” the 6-foot-7 Thoss told Spin.ph.
Thoss and the Aces took their two-week break after the playoff debacle for some soul-searching before plunging back to practice last Tuesday as they start their preparation for the season-ending Governors Cup that starts in a week’s time.
The one-time Finals MVP said with all honesty that nobody in the Alaska team was happy when it failed to defend the crown it won via a three-game sweep of Barangay Ginebra in the Finals last season.
“I’m sure nobody in the team is happy with what happened last conference. So I guess we make some short-terms goals, slowly pick ourselves up and then, get ourselves ready for the third conference,” he added.
The Aces will be reinforced by former NBA veteran Bill Walker, an athletic forward who played for the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks.
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