ALL is not lost for NLEX.
Coach Yeng Guiao still likes the Road Warriors’ chances against streaking NorthPort despite losing starting center Poy Erram and back-up guard Paul Varilla in their do-or-die encounter for the last semifinal berth of the PBA Governors Cup.
Erram and Varilla will serve out their suspensions in the 7 p.m. match on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum after figuring in a scuffle against NorthPort import Michael Qualls.
Erram was likewise fined P50,000 and Varilla P40,000.
Despite the handicap and a three-game losing streak going back to the team’s final two games in the eliminations, Guiao believes the Road Warriors remain very much in contention of a semifinal berth.
Ironically, two of those losses were against the Batang Pier.
“We need to get back our intensity. From the start kasi, out-energized kami,” said Guiao. “We have a big problem actually in terms of resolving our intensity, our aggressiveness, keeping up with them in that aspect
“It’s still a maturity problem,” added the NLEX coach. “We need to be a little bit more matured in the big games, in the important games, and control our frustration and get back to what we usually do.”
Guiao admitted frustrations got the better of his team.
“The frustration sets in. And pag napa-frustrate kami, nawawala na kami sa sistema,’ he said.
To be fair the eighth-seeded Batang Pier, Guiao admitted the team has been playing and shooting well in their last two meetings.
And unless NLEX resolves the issue, then a repeat is bound to happen, Guiao warned.
“If we do not step up defensively, the same thing could happen,” said Guiao.
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