JONG Uichico hopes to build something out of the heartbreaking experience that NLEX had gone through in the PBA Philippine Cup playoffs.
The No. 2 seeded Road Warriors failed to take advantage of their twice-to-beat edge against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters and lost back-to-back games to miss out on a seat in the semifinals.
The clincher came Saturday in a 103-92 loss that denied the team of what could have been its first semifinal apparance since the 2021 Governors’ Cup.
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For the record, this also marked the second time in franchise history that NLEX lost in the quarterfinals while holding twice-to-beat advantage - the first coming in the 2019 Governors’ Cup where it lost to Northport as the top-seeded team.
Disheartening as the way their campaign ended, Uichico still sees a silver lining.
“Maski na out kami sa twice to beat, still we can build on this all-Filipino, and I think that’s what we should do,” he said, trying to stay positive over the end of NLEX's season. “The first two conferences were terrible performances in my opinion. But I think now is a better gauge of what we can do.”
The Road Warriors made the playoffs of the season-opening Governors’ Cup, but was abruptly dismissed by eventual champion TNT in the quarterfinals.
They failed to make it past the eliminations of the Commissioner’s Cup.
But the team bounced back strong in the Philippine Cup as it unveiled gems in rookies Xyrus Torres, Brandon Ramirez, Jonel Policarpio, and free agent pick JB Bahio to complement its veteran core of Robert Bolick, Kevin Alas, Tony Semerad, Javee Mocon, Matt Nieto, and sophomore Dominic Fajardo.
Building on the positives
“May nakita naman akong improvement sa team compared to the two conferences. So we’ll build what positive came about in this all-Filipino,” said Uichico.
Playoff experience was one of them.
The NLEX coach admitted this current team has yet to experience playing together in the playoffs, and had the unfortunate fate of being paired with a battle-tested Rain or Shine side.
“Hindi pa sanay. There are some players na sanay, pero generally , hindi pa,” said Uichico, a nine-time champion coach.
“Rain or Shine, tried and tested na yan. They’ve been in the semis, they’ve been there and sanay na sila sa ganyang sitwasyon. And you give credit to Rain or Shine and coach Yeng [Guiao] na they took advantage of our weaknesses.”
Mistakes were made, but out of it, lessons were also learned.
“Of course, you will learn from your mistakes, pero siyempre, let’s focus also on the positives na we made strides compared to the last two conferences,” Uichico said.
“There’s always a first [time] and its good it happened kasi doon ka lang matututo. And hopefully we use it as a tool to learn and as a tool to improve.”
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